Music is the universal language

Ever heard a song which is sung in a language you do not know and still felt peppy and happy? Or did you hear some soulful whinny number and feel depressed and sad? A team of scientists from Duke University in Durham, North Carolina seem to have found out just why music notes can cut through the language barrier in their science project.

It seems that the minor and major keys have a part to play. 4 semi tones above the keynote build an interval in a major and three tones in a minor. So when a speaker reads a text in a subdued voice it mirrors the minor intervals. On the other hand when the text is read out cheerfully it has many major intervals in it.

In addition while reading cheerful texts the different overtones of the vowels arrange their frequency relationships in a manner resembling a major chord. And this fact seems to apply across the different cultures and languages.

These emotion dependent sound patterns prove that music gets understood in the mood that it is made. That means if the tone is happy you will know it even if the language is unfamiliar. So perhaps language came after the evolution of music? The researchers are still working on it. You can work on this science project.