What’s the deal with Major and Minor chords?
Just what is it, I’m wondering, about D-minor that can make anyone “instantly weep”?
I posed this to the lounge-room sages. Their slurred guesses were:
"Pavlovian conditioning "
"Low-Level Synesthesia "
"something to do with recognizing similarities in tones used to express emotion in…wait…what was the question again? "
I do wonder if a simple D-minor chord by itself could cause anyone to weep, though. It might cause a little shudder or chill if played just right by the right intrument in the right context, but just walking over to the piano and plunking down a D-minor chord would bring a tear (IMHO) only if the thing were badly out of tune.
To test this on yourself, try playing C-E-G (major) then C-Eb-G (minor) back and forth for a few tries and see if you well up and bawl. I would wager not. Of course, in your case, you’d have to swap back and forth from D-F#-A and D-F-A to get the full effect.
Can’t wait for a more definitive reply that does show why minor keys, chords, scales, etc., are associated with sadness or the like.