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First off, I understand what everyone's saying. Music can change my moods. There are songs that I avoid listening to because they make me depressed 100% of the time, and other songs that I love listening to because they make me feel like I'm at peace with the world. I remember what music was playing during most major events of my life. If there wasn't any playing, I remember what song I had stuck in my head. If I'm performing or just playing and everything clicks, I'll be giddy for days afterward.
Has anyone ever thought about why certain music makes people feel certain ways? Does a minor chord sound sad/scary because that's the nature of a minor chord or because we've been programmed to think it does? I think it's the latter. Some music I regard as joyous would just sound chaotic to others. Some older classical works, specifically I'm thinking Russian ones, have titles that would imply they were happy songs, but are in a minor key.
The problem with seeing the emotional response to music as a learned one is that it makes music feel much less magical. If humans are trained to react, then music isn't some mysterious force. It's just a way of us tricking ourselves to feel an emotion.
When I work through this problem with my brain, that's the conclusion I reach. But my heart still tells me otherwise (I apologize for that corny sentence). This has bothered me for a while, and I've found no way to reconcile my two different viewpoints. Anyone want to help?
The same argument can be made with visual art and even the human form. A "beautiful woman" of 15 years ago looks different than one now. But this thread is about music. Anyway, thanks for reading, and I hope most of that made sense.
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