Movie Music

I determined that sad songs have the following musical qualities 100% of the time; falling scales, played in a minor key and a low-pitched melody. I concluded that 84% of sad songs had a slow tempo. Also 67% of sad songs had a quiet volume.

I was pleased with my results. It was interesting to me to see how musical qualities in a song triggered the listeners' emotions that the movie scene intends with each of the songs. So without seeing the movie the listeners' auditory senses brought forth the emotion the movie scene would make them feel if they had watched each movie.

For example one song titled Had a Bad Day, had musical qualities of a sad song like falling scales, low-pitched melody. However it was sung by the Chipmunks and so 84% of my test subjects thought it sounded happy and my predication was it would have been rated a sad song due to its lyrics.

Also the Main Title musical sequence from The Little Mermaid based on musical qualities like being played in a major key, rising scales and high-pitched melody I anticipated my subjects would find this song to be happy. However 67% of my subjects thought this acoustic song sounded sad based on its' slow tempo and quiet volume. In the article "How Music Affects Moods" it discusses how people when happy want to listen to upbeat music this also correlates to people who like to see Disney Princess movies as the characters typically end up "happily ever after." It is fascinating how my subjects each heard different qualities more than others to determine if a song was happy or sad. Like the saying goes "beauty is in the eye of the beholder" so is the "emotion in the ear of the listener"!