Post by ron on Mar 25, 2005 3:44:48 GMT -5
Musical artists, like all artists, create and perform their works to evoke emotional responses. (Recall Emotional Staying Power.)
Chords are obviously important tools of the songwriter's trade. So . . . how emotion-specific are chords? That is, do certain chords evoke certain emotions?
Few would disagree with the assertion, for example, that a minor chord, such as E minor, sounds somehow sadder than a major chord, such as E major. But what about E major seventh or E ninth?
For what it's worth, here's a little table of descriptors that have been used to characterize how chords supposedly make people feel emotionally (Table 11).
TABLE 11: Chords and Emotional Descriptors
Chord Example
Descriptors
Major C = happy, cheerful, confident, bright, satisfied, upbeat
Minor Cm = sad, blue, dark, sullen apprehensive, melancholy, depressing, mysterious
Seventh C7 = funky, bluesy, soulful, somewhat edgy
Major Seventh CM7 = romantic, softly jazzy, serene, soothing, exhilarating
Minor Seventh Cm7 mellow, moody, jazzy
Ninth C9 = open, optimistic
Diminished Cº = tense, shocking, spooky, suspenseful
Suspended Fourth C sus 4 = beautifully tense
Seventh, Minor Ninth C7b9 = creepy, sinister, threatening, dark
Added Ninth C add 9 = steely, austere
happy writing out the melody feel !
Chords are obviously important tools of the songwriter's trade. So . . . how emotion-specific are chords? That is, do certain chords evoke certain emotions?
Few would disagree with the assertion, for example, that a minor chord, such as E minor, sounds somehow sadder than a major chord, such as E major. But what about E major seventh or E ninth?
For what it's worth, here's a little table of descriptors that have been used to characterize how chords supposedly make people feel emotionally (Table 11).
TABLE 11: Chords and Emotional Descriptors
Chord Example
Descriptors
Major C = happy, cheerful, confident, bright, satisfied, upbeat
Minor Cm = sad, blue, dark, sullen apprehensive, melancholy, depressing, mysterious
Seventh C7 = funky, bluesy, soulful, somewhat edgy
Major Seventh CM7 = romantic, softly jazzy, serene, soothing, exhilarating
Minor Seventh Cm7 mellow, moody, jazzy
Ninth C9 = open, optimistic
Diminished Cº = tense, shocking, spooky, suspenseful
Suspended Fourth C sus 4 = beautifully tense
Seventh, Minor Ninth C7b9 = creepy, sinister, threatening, dark
Added Ninth C add 9 = steely, austere
happy writing out the melody feel !
Anyway, how do we utilise them in our songwriting?