[mike_hock]

I don't buy that minor being "sad" is all nurture and no nature. No matter what tempo or rhythm you put on it or what instruments you use to play it, it may not sound sad, it may sound dramatic and powerful instead, but it never sounds upbeat and happy the way major does (or at least can).

[prewett]

Listening to "Fiddler on the Roof" and klezmer music unsettled to me the idea that major is happier than minor. I still think minor tends to sound "sad", but those wedding songs and the Russian dance in FotR are clearly upbeat and celebratory. (Literally upbeat; the Russian dance is more upward-beat, as it gets faster and faster!)

[qlte]

Yes, the klezmer “default” is minor and upbeat.

It’s my favorite example for the “minor != universally sad across cultures” thing since it’s not so “out there” for the Western ear that people would struggle to even hear minor/major/“music” in it at all.

[qlte]

I’m not seeing how that’s inconsistent with it being culturally derived?

Your brain is still just pattern matching “minor = sad” based on thousands of hours of examples from the western canon consumed throughout your life regardless of how you dress it up with rhythmic variations.