Daughters of St Cecilia...help me out here please! Major/minor chords and why they make us feel like they do

[Flightattendant7]

I was wondering on way to school this afternoon. You hear a minor chord, the music instantly sounds rather sombre or sad or even scary.
A major chord and you feel all is well again.

Why is this? Has anyone done their thesis on this sort of thing ans can explain? Is it purely cultural conditioning, or do we have an inner recognition of the vibrations it creates or soemthing that goes much deeper than just what we're used to?

Would be really interested to know.

yes, Iorek I slightly changed the subject. I suspect many people are born with perfect pitch but never learn music so never find it out. I don't know. But it's always interested me - how my borhter and I could hear a note on the piano and know what it was and my sister couldn't (and we all had plenty of grade 8s so it wasn't that one was more trained than the other).

I love harmonic minors, too. My daughter insists on playing them for Grade 4 piano because she doesn't have to remember different notes going down the scale. It can be a big stretch, though.