Why can music evoke different emotions?

wegs said:
I think music makes us feel things because it connects with the emotional parts of our brain and often reminds us of personal memories. The way it's “organized” - tempo, melody, and key, can somewhat mimic how we express emotions, so our brains naturally react. Even animals react to music in ways that seem to have a calming effect over them.
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У меня была в детстве собака, которая начинала подвывать, когда слышала грустную мелодию.
 
ольга said:
У меня была в детстве собака, которая начинала подвывать, когда слышала грустную мелодию.
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That’s so telling, right? I think animals experience emotions in such a pure way.
 
wegs said:
That’s so telling, right? I think animals experience emotions in such a pure way.
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Мне кажется, животные более эмоциональные, чем люди. Посмотрите, как они радуются нашему приходу, и тоскуют, когда нас долго нет. Никто не прыгает вокруг меня с визгом от радости видеть меня, даже самые близкие друзья. Наверное, стоило бы ужесточить наказание за жестокое обращение с животными, потому что им, наверное, ещё больнее чем нам, когда их обижают, из-за этой их повышенной эмоциональности.
 
ольга said:
Мне кажется, животные более эмоциональные, чем люди. Посмотрите, как они радуются нашему приходу, и тоскуют, когда нас долго нет. Никто не прыгает вокруг меня с визгом от радости видеть меня, даже самые близкие друзья. Наверное, стоило бы ужесточить наказание за жестокое обращение с животными, потому что им, наверное, ещё больнее чем нам, когда их обижают, из-за этой их повышенной эмоциональности.
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That really hits deep! You’re right - I’d dare say my cat loves me unconditionally, and there’s something so beautiful about how he interacts with me. He can be sound asleep and I’ll have to vacuum for example, and he wakes up and just looks at me with a kind face. (my interpretation - he may be angry because of the noise lol)

Your description of how happy your pet is to see you and the separation anxiety our beloved pets get when apart from us, shows they could potentially feel things on a deeper level than us. Or maybe we feel as deeply as they do but because of our (human’s) insecurities, we hide our emotions due to pride. Animals don’t seem to have pride.
 
wegs said:
That really hits deep! You’re right - I’d dare say my cat loves me unconditionally, and there’s something so beautiful about how he interacts with me. He can be sound asleep and I’ll have to vacuum for example, and he wakes up and just looks at me with a kind face. (my interpretation - he may be angry because of the noise lol)

Your description of how happy your pet is to see you and the separation anxiety our beloved pets get when apart from us, shows they could potentially feel things on a deeper level than us. Or maybe we feel as deeply as they do but because of our (human’s) insecurities, we hide our emotions due to pride. Animals don’t seem to have pride.
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Животные непосредственные, как дети.
 
We have not mentioned tribalism.

Ancient tribes used music for a variety of reasons, we like it and like dancing!

Why do I love the sound of my 26 inch bass drum?
Nothing else sounds like it, I feel my tribal genes chiming when I play.
 
ольга said:
Bells have been ringing in Russia since ancient times during epidemics. And indeed, the epidemics stopped quickly. Unlike in Europe, where epidemics "mowed down" entire cities.
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Today's important science concept:

Correlation is not causation.
 
Pinball1970 said:
Why does Cmaj7 sound sad and lonely but C7 sounds more harsh? E7#9 sound like satan, E11 sounds optimistic (to me)?

The natural harmonics are physical and do not change but the effect of those intervals on our brains, depends on our genes plus the experience that brain has had.
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Yes, jazz likes the C7 because it needs the tension, and looking for resolution. Cmaj7 (i.e. undiminished) can be more contemplative, perhaps a gloomy place.

Or the suspended chord (Asus2) in Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald which is kind of ambiguous and open to mysteries. If you didn't take out the major third, you wouldn't have that ambiguity and openness.
 
Pentatonic, being easy and not prone to harmonic mistakes for neophyte singers, is usually considered the most universal scale. I've seen studies showing how mothers speech patterns to infants, across cultures, tends towards the 12356 of the major pentatonic. Will post if I can find.

(musing more on 7th chords) I also wonder how universally felt is the Hitchcock chord, which is a minor major 7th chord. It's a minor chord with a major seventh added, so e.g. C Eb G B. It's hard to imagine anyone hearing this and not feeling the suspense.
 
TheVat said:
Pentatonic, being easy and not prone to harmonic mistakes for neophyte singers, is usually considered the most universal scale. I've seen studies showing how mothers speech patterns to infants, across cultures, tends towards the 12356 of the major pentatonic. Will post if I can find.

(musing more on 7th chords) I also wonder how universally felt is the Hitchcock chord, which is a minor major 7th chord. It's a minor chord with a major seventh added, so e.g. C Eb G B. It's hard to imagine anyone hearing this and not feeling the suspense.
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Totally, it's in Us and Them and Dear Prudence the minor, major 7th
 
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TheVat said:
Pentatonic, being easy and not prone to harmonic mistakes for neophyte singers, is usually considered the most universal scale. I've seen studies showing how mothers speech patterns to infants, across cultures, tends towards the 12356 of the major pentatonic. Will post if I can find.

(musing more on 7th chords) I also wonder how universally felt is the Hitchcock chord, which is a minor major 7th chord. It's a minor chord with a major seventh added, so e.g. C Eb G B. It's hard to imagine anyone hearing this and not feeling the suspense.
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Also minor 7th so with the Bb over the minor chord. For me it takes the edge off the minor, makes it prettier.
 
Pinball1970 said:
Also minor 7th so with the Bb over the minor chord. For me it takes the edge off the minor, makes it prettier.
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For sure.


Pinball1970 said:
Totally, it's in Us and Them and Dear Prudence
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Buttons and Bows. Zepp used a lot of pentatonic (minor, more). Also Clapton. Also Pink Floyd. A goodly chunk of folk music in America, and elsewhere. Oh, and guitar tuning (standard) is an Em pentatonic. EADGBE.
 
TheVat said:
For sure.




Buttons and Bows. Zepp used a lot of pentatonic (minor, more). Also Clapton. Also Pink Floyd. A goodly chunk of folk music in America, and elsewhere. Oh, and guitar tuning (standard) is an Em pentatonic. EADGBE.
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I meant your tension chord, tonic, minor third, 5th (if you need it) maj 7th.
 
Pinball1970 said:
Totally, it's in Us and Them and Dear Prudence the minor, major 7th
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Can't recall a minor, major 7th in Dear Prudence. Are you thinking Cry Baby Cry with that brilliant chromatic walkdown from the tonic all the way to the 5th?

Edit: I guess the song is actually in G (John can be a bit ambiguous with his keys sometimes). So not tonic to 5th... E down to B on the verse lines.
 
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