Happy music and sad music may not be universal

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2022-06-30 04:00

Australia; Pacific; NSW; ACT

Major chords in music are typically seen as ‘happy’, while minor chords are seen as ‘sad’, but Aussie researchers have suggested this is not universal and might be due to the domination of Western culture. The team played major and minor chords and melodies for several communities in Papua New Guinea who have had varying exposure to western music, and asked which chords made them happier. The study was repeated by 79 Aussies, and the team found that major chords were happier and minor chords were sadder in all communities but one: the community with minimal exposure to Western-like music.

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Journal/
conference: PLOS ONE

Research:Paper

Organisation/s: Western Sydney University, The Australian National University

Funder: This work was funded by the Western Sydney University Postgraduate Scholarship from the MARCS Institute for Brain, Behaviour and Development granted to E.S. for her PhD Candidature; the Australian Research Council Discovery Early Career Researcher Award (project number DE170100353), funded by the Australian Government, awarded to A.M.; the Australian Research Council Discovery Early Career Research Award (project number DE180101609), funded by the Australian Government, awarded to H.S. and by the Centre of Excellence for the Dynamics of Language, Australian National University (CE140100041), awarded to H.S.

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