I can recognize music and often it evokes, in my mind, a specific scenery while nobody told me about any association between them. Is it another “Mary, The super scientist”? I mean, if someone who is a genius scientist and who is deaf from birth suddenly gains hearing capability and listens to a music, will that person awake of new fronter of knowledge or just murmur “Yes I have known it”.
Anyway, I think something unknown, which leads us to that sensation that comes at listening music, surely exists, somewhere maybe another dimension in our universe. The sensation, that can be shared with some people without acquired knowledge.
Sorry, here, I have to stop my bad habit of overstating things in association with something scientific.
Below the picture, yes, now you see it. What kind of music comes to your mind when you see it?
Debussy’s rêverie, Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata & Für Elise and Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child (Jazz Piano), I like their melody lines.
I have been long thinking of why I can identify those quite impressive and beautiful or “cool” melody lines. A melody is composed of multiple notes sequenced in a specific rhythm (length) to each. If I hear some of the notes arranged in a different rhythm, the melody will never be the one I can identify. Or if those notes are all changed to different pitch yet with the same length, then again, the melody will be different.
Maybe, the first note still reverberates in one’s consciousness or simply in one’s memory when the second has started ringing. Whenever a note starts ringing, relation between past notes crystalizes, a relation between fading past and emerging present that gives one an identification of the specific melody.
I just expressed it with a word “reverberates”. But that may not precisely convey what I am feeling with the mystery of melody.
Imagine hitting the piano keyboard of the first note and then 2nd, 3rd, and 4th, successively until the final note. You may identify or say, gain the slight impression of the specific scale if not being a well-trained musician. Then, the next is G major scale. As done with E minor, imagine doing the same practice.
The impression you have will be different from that of E minor although there are some notes that are the same from each other. Therefore, the relation between notes in a single scale might matter.
The first note then the second and the third follows, when you hit the 7th one, in your consciousness, all the past notes are still affecting the 7th in a degree and superimposing something over the 7th note that has just been heard thereby, 7th becomes something unique, as one of the notes in a specific scale.
OK then, what is the relation with physics? Yes, my crazy illusion says; the quantum particle with 4 dimensional theory of Einstein, 4 dimensional means 3 dimensions of space plus 1 time axis, might be like music notes. Because of time axis as one of 4 dimensions, any particle, its present appearance is affected by its pasts. So, I can’t help stopping an illusion that the time is successive single time points like clock pulse of digital system. (Oh sorry, this is a kind of mischievous.)
Why major and minor?
Major scales or chords express some kind of positive feeling. Minor scales or chords express some kind of negative feeling. For instance, let’s compare C and Cm.
C Major = C You can hear the sound at the site below.
You may feel some sort of feeling of upper tension with C while with Cm somewhat with lowered tension; negative or depression or sadness.
Chords and Scales will never disappear because they are just simply combinations of sound notes. And human can identify them as major or minor even if human achieve the life in which only happiness prevails. If such a negative of sadness is not necessary for human, then in a long-long future human will lose its capability of identifying minor scales and chords when human succeed to build civilization where only happiness rules. OK? Uuuuu, that sounds somehow wrong, isn’t it?
Happiness exists when Unhappiness exists. Oh it sounds somewhat like genuine proverb.
OK, I am not saying unhappiness is vital rather wondering if human can be in a state of infinite happiness, maybe the answer is NO. Even one is being in a state of happiness, the one can still identify the “beauty” of musical material that is composed of minor scales and chords. So, maybe we do not necessarily need to associate minor scales and chords with such negatives. They are just simply of beauty indeed and surely, although minor is sometimes applied to compose songs or music which are aimed at expressing some sorts of unhappiness.
Chords and Scales of Major and Minor
However, yes however, I have to say. I can’t eliminate a thought that the meaning of the fact that both Major and Minor exist would probably is happy history and sad history will continue happening especially such a thing like war and peace.
Major and Minor are categories of how human feel when they hear the music composed with those chords and scales. It is quite difficult to build a theory for feelings of human indeed and there are no such things like equation. Human behavior is often associated with evolution, “survival of the fittest”. And human consciousness is said to be crystalized in a way that the resulting consciousness leads the human to the fittest. Then, why does Minor remains as part of consciousness?
Probably, minor is used to express such things as sad love story, farewell, nostalgia etc. Or in a long future, will human be able to eliminate anything those sorts, completely thus minor will be no longer the fittest?
Only happiness exists. Is that possible? I think it means a devoid. Existence means contrast. Happiness can be contrasted with its opposite unhappiness. or maybe my wording is wrong. Happiness is ok but what should be its opposite. Happiness and ?????
OK, returning to the topic, Melody line and chord progression in a music – Time in physics -. In the sense of physics, negative and positive will be like plus and minus of electricity. There, any vector that makes thing directed to such things as happiness and sadness, is found or not, I wonder. But each specific series of notes in a specific combination like musical notes or melody will be like quantum particles acting throughout 4 dimensional time and space across the time expanse from past to present. But in physics, how to distinguish happiness and sadness. Is there any hint in survival of fittest? I mean, something that can lead things to the fittest means happiness? But I am quite sure “not”, though I can’t find any scientific or logical explanation. Anyway, ignorant confusion though.
Whatever. It surely is some kind of happiness, to be able to feel something through music whichever minor or major. So, please stop launching rockets and listen to music then happiness comes.
We are all exposed to so many negatives; criticized by others, be considered valueless by others, given a harsh downgraded in qualification by senior executive, failure of business, you name it. Or even sometimes you have to tell your once a lover goodbye. But you see in any of those there is no such things as killing people with rockets. And at least I can have just a short private time when I can listen to my favorite music, minor or major, that are beautiful to me.
By the way, is it a kind of hint to a breakthrough in modern physics which looks to me stacked that quantum put in Einstein’s world would be like musical melody? (Sorry, this is a monologue.)
Finally, if you like, listen to one of my favorites.
科学好きの独り言 Science Monologue 