Why do minor chords (in Western music) sound “sad” while major chords sound “happy”? Is it a purely learned interpretation, or is there something intrinsic to those intervals that makes them sound sad / happy?
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100% culture.
A wonderfully good example is the Indonesian gamelan, which to our Western ears sounds completely discordant, while to them culturally it represents something more harmonious.
[https://youtu.be/UEWCCSuHsuQ?si=bd7ADBLWh-vTRAS1](https://youtu.be/UEWCCSuHsuQ?si=bd7ADBLWh-vTRAS1)
It even sounds ominous at times I guess to some listeners from the West, even though to Indonesians these are associated with either some kind of joyous and busy tone or more formal/ceremonial/sacred tone (depending on the exact tuning/notation). It’s very much culture and it seems sounds themselves are just… sounds and don’t have innate meanings.
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