RE: [Harp-L] Why do we associate major with happy and minorwith sad? (No harp content)

["Jerome P." <jersimuse@xxxxxxxxx>]

Personally, I think that one of the problems about this assumption is that
our musical culture has evolved widely, especially since classical music
from the 20th, Blues and Jazz.
When you are used to listen to fast Blues shuffles for example, where the
minor third can be used on a major chord, not to express a specific emotion,
but to create a particular tension that your ear is used to, you are no
longer so sensitive to a particular "sad feel" about minor and "happy feel"
about major.
In the contrary, if you want to develop a sad feeling when composing a tune,
you'd better use a minor key still. But maybe this will change one day :-)