Hey Friend,
Happy Friday the 13th! Anyone spooked or superstitious?
While I do have my hang-ups and conspiracy theories, Friday the 13th isn’t one of them. My dad was born on the 13th and it never seemed to hold him back. Of course, he wasn’t breakin’ mirrors all the time or walking under ladders! LOL!
There’s some important stuff on that chart. Right there you’ve got the essence of what music theory is.
There have been many studies done over the years on all the possible emotions. Some studies have categorized the many possibilities by grouping into similar feelings, while others have simply listed out all possible emotions.
As I see it, I agree there are some basic emotional categories that then have many sub-emotions under them. For instance, if you’re happy (as a primary emotion), it could be from contentment, or pride, or relief. All very different feelings, with the end result of you feeling “happy.”
But it’s hard to pin a feeling down to just one awareness. So there have been other researchers that identified feelings to combinations of emotions.
Like the example of feeling happy. You might be happy because it’s a release of fear or worry - think about a time when you were frantic to hear news about a loved one. When the news was positive, you were happy wth relief. Seems almost contradictory if you think about it.
This article gives us a nice cross section of study results to look over. What’s my point in all this?
Every one of these emotions can be triggered using music.
That’s why soundtracks for film are a huge part of movie making. Visual queues can help sway an audience to understand what a character is feeling, but when the right music is added, the effect is explosive.
Great songwriters learn how to build a song using just the right intervals and chords to give the story the emotional punch to affect the listener.
Words by themselves can be beautiful poetry, but when you add a melody, the words come alive and draw the audience in to experience the feeling the writer wants them to feel.
This is HUGE!
If you don’t believe me, think about a song that makes you sad every time you hear it. Listen to it again and think about why it makes you sad. I’m sure the lyrics help, but what are the melody and chords doing? I’ll bet there are quite a few minor intervals and chords represented.
Whole populations have been manipulated into a frenzy through the use of song - think Hitler and the Nazi Party with their national anthem.
Powerful stuff!
We’ll look at some examples of how music works on your brain to change ho you feel. Take a look at the article to familiarize yourself with all the possibilities.
Talk to you tomorrow - Rock On!
Peace~
Dave
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