There’s an article about minor thirds and how we are, perhaps, wired to hear them as sad. I’ll play things in major and then in minor and the majority of my students will say the minor sounds sad. But not all of them say that. I find it more beautiful and moving than sad, depending of course upon the music.

But what I was just thinking about was the calling out of our names when I was young. Back then parents might yell a name out the window or door to call a child home (people don’t do that all that much these days). Seems to me that was a downward moving minor third.

Which, now that I’m putting it all together, tells me that the parents really were hoping we wouldn’t return. Right?

Or maybe there were just sad, missing us so.