Unit 9: Solo performance 2

5/11

Emotion and music 

In this unit, I looked at the connection between emotion and music through analysing the relationship between the emotion and the musical features. 

Firstly, looking into the two main emotions in music, happy and sad which are easily put into the categories of major and minor.

I came to a conclusion that in 'sad' music, the key is usually minor which contrasts to music in the major key which sounds 'happy'. 

Minor keys, conveyed to make are sad and wistful music, you can also evoke feelings of dread, tension and mystery. On the other hand, songs written with emotions such as hope and optimism are also written in minor keys. This is also supported by the fact that many pop songs are written in minor keys. 

Sad music features :

• Sparse sounding
• Instrumentation-Piano and strings 
• Softer 
• Slower tempo
• Minor key 

In terms of minor scales, these are grouped into the natural minor, the melodic minor and the harmonic minor. The natural minor is usually referred to as the 'original' minor scale. Due to these scales having a similarity to the notes of the major scales, it can be confusing sometimes, some of the scales are even identical. 

The A minor scale consists of exactly the same notes as the C major scale which is evident in the images below. The only difference between these scales are that the notes are played in a slightly different order.

Therefore minor keys and scales do not always limit you to 'sad' sounding music which can be backed up with some musical examples and occasionally, it can be difficult for the listener to notice.

To gather a few examples,  I looked into some pop songs which are in minor keys.

The first song is called 'Oye Como Va' which is written in A minor. It's 'Jubilant' groove makes the listener question whether it is actually in a minor key. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J7ATTjg7tpE

To compare this song to other songs in A minor, The song called Cat Stevens - Wild World is in A minor together with Cohen, Leonard Famous Blue Raincoat.

Another examples of other a pop song in a minor key:

Dirty Diana- Michael Jackson- G minor 

Playing the a minor melodic, harmonic and natural  minor scales on the trumpet with videos to show the difference between the scales. This can also improve my knowledge of scales.

From here, I will find three songs in the natural minor, melodic minor and harmonic minor.

Bibliography:

https://www.pianoscales.org/songs-by-key.html

https://www.musical-u.com/learn/the-ultimate-guide-to-minor-keys/#

https://www.pianoscales.org/minor.html

https://www.basicmusictheory.com/c-major-scale

https://www.psychologytoday.com/gb/blog/your-musical-self/201709/what-makes-sad-music-sad

Music in the major key differs to music in the minor key which is conveyed as 'happy music'. This can be due to a variety of reasons such as  fast tempo, being upbeat, having a louder volume (mf-mezzo-forte) and having a layered texture. 

I used Michael Jackson's Human Nature to use as an example of a song which uses the theme of contentment as it's written in a major key. The key of Human Nature is D major, however, I play it in E major. 
The D major scale 



Similar to when I talked about minor keys deceiving people based on their ability to convey 'happy' emotions, major keys can also do that. The judgements of how major and minor music is supposed to sound 
https://www.nme.com/blogs/nme-blogs/the-science-of-music-why-do-songs-in-a-minor-key-sound-sad-760215

Music in the major key:

• fast tempo
• layered
• guitar
• drums
• mp<louder 

Bibliography:

http://www.notediscover.com/song/michael-jackson-human-nature
https://www.basicmusictheory.com/d-major-scale
https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2010/12/what-makes-a-song-sad/67709/