Culture determines musical mood

Scientists traveled to remote Papua New Guinea to learn how much of our Western music experience is determined by what we're familiar with. Plus, some more interesting links.

Ever wondered why major chord progressions sound “happy” and minor ones “sad”? A new study found that it probably has nothing to do with the properties of the music itself. Instead, it’s something that we picked up as a culture – and by culture I mean everyone who listens to music based on Western music theory and scales. Since that includes a lot of di…