In general, the missing fundamentals of a chord (and their salience) depend on voicing, but the main candidates for an octave-generalized chord type such as 'major triad' can be derived by a simple octave-generalized calculation (Parncutt, 1988). In Parncutt (2011a), I proposed that scale degrees in major and minor keys may be divided into three categories: the tones of the tonic triad, missing fundamentals of the tonic triad, and leading tones. For the moment, allow me to quickly consider the relationship between tones of the tonic triad and scale degrees in major-minor tonality (MmT). I will examine this idea in detail below. My basic assumption was that any passage of music in a major or minor key may be considered a Schenkerian prolongation of its tonic triad. I addressed that question in Parncutt (2011a). In this extended commentary, I will present a new approach that builds upon their work.Ĭonsider first the origin of the ordering of tones and semitones in major and minor scales. The contribution by Huron and Davis (2012) is a significant step towards a new explanation, and it also has interesting broader implications. Evidently we have not, but things are moving in a promising direction.

Why? One would think that music psychologists would have answered these apparently simple questions by now. W HY are major and minor scales like they are (with a specific ordering of tones and semitones) and not completely different? Why are major keys associated with positive emotional valence (happiness, contentment, serenity, grace, tenderness, elation, joy, victory, majesty…), and minor with negative emotional valence (sadness, anger, fear, tension, solemnity, lament, tragedy…)? For Meyer (1956), 'the minor mode is not only associated with intense feeling in general but with the delineation of sadness, suffering and anguish in particular' (p. Submitted 2012 October 20 accepted 12 December 2012. Minor music may tend toward negative valence simply because scale degrees 3 and 6 sound lower than expected, consistent with emotional cues in speech (Huron, 2008).

Major music may tend toward positive valence simply because emotionally positive music is more common than emotionally negative music, and major triads and keys are more common than minor. The emotional difference between major and minor may ultimately and primarily depend on the third of the tonic triad in the psychological background. Huron's (2006) data on scale-step transitions in typical melodies is consistent with Schenker's (1922, 1935) idea that a piece of tonal music can be interpreted as a prolongation of its tonic triad (mediated by the Ursatz). I present an alternative theory of the origin of major and minor scales/keys and their emotional connotations.

Huron and Davis (2012) additionally showed that a part of this difference is inherent in the structure of major and minor scales, in combination with typical patterns of transition between scale steps: if one takes a typical major melody and lowers scale steps 3 and 6 by a semitone, then the average interval size is optimally reduced. ABSTRACT: On average, melodies in minor keys have smaller intervals between successive tones than melodies in major keys-consistent with the emotional difference between major and minor (Huron, 2008).

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