Photo: Brett Sayles

Why is a minor so sad?

Back in the 19th Century, German scientist Hermann von Helmholtz showed that minor chords create more complex sound waves, which are less harmonious and less comfortable to process.

sciencefocus.com - Why are minor chords sad and major chords happy?

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Whenever a collection of notes is played or sung together, this is described as a ‘chord’ and even the simplest combination will convey some kind of recognisable emotion. Why and how this occurs has long been a matter of intrigue and debate for musicians, psychologists, physicists and even mathematicians. A simple ‘major’ chord is made from the first, third and fifth notes of a major scale. This is reliably identified by Western adults and children as a happy chord. Then by simply lowering the middle note by a semitone – one white or black key to the left on a piano – this is turned into a ‘minor’ chord, which is typically heard as sad. This phenomenon seems to be mirrored in natural language, with research showing that sad speech tends to use notes from minor chords, and happy speech major chords. Neuroscientists have also shown that major and minor chords provoke their own distinct pattern of activity in the brain’s emotion centres.

Some have argued that there is a physical basis for this.

Back in the 19th Century, German scientist Hermann von Helmholtz showed that minor chords create more complex sound waves, which are less harmonious and less comfortable to process. But if this is an inherently biological phenomenon, then we would expect these perceptions to be universal across all cultures and while it is common, it is not always the case. For example, the Khowar and Kalash tribes native to northwestern Pakistan showed the exact opposite pattern to Western listeners, linking minor chords with positive emotions and major chords with negative emotions. So while there may be some mathematical and physical reasons that humans started to use chords in this way, the research suggests that our tendency to hear emotions in chords is at least partly learned from very early and prolonged exposure to the associations that consistently occur in the music of our culture, and even in everyday speech.

Asked by: Paul Farnham-Smith, Folkestone

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What is the rarest pitch?

mlb.com - Screwball (SC) | Glossary - MLB.com

Screwball (SC)

Definition

A screwball is a breaking ball designed to move in the opposite direction of just about every other breaking pitch. It is one of the rarest pitches thrown in baseball, mostly because of the tax it can put on a pitcher's arm. The movement on the screwball -- which travels toward the pitcher's arm side -- is caused by an extremely unorthodox throwing motion.

Grip

In throwing the screwball, the pitcher snaps his wrist in a manner that causes his palm to face away from his glove side. This is in stark contrast to sliders and curveballs, for which a pitcher snaps his wrist so that the palm is facing the glove side. Because of the awkward arm motion, a screwball is exponentially tougher to throw than a curveball. But, in theory, it should have the same effect as a curve -- only breaking in the opposite direction.

Origin

The origins of the screwball are very difficult to trace, as it was considered to simply be a different version of a curveball in its early years. Hall of Famer Carl Hubbell, who used the screwball to rejuvenate his career, brought notoriety to the pitch.

In A Call

"scroogie," "reverse curve"

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