The orchestra all around us

The following was inspired by a story I heard on the radio many years ago:

All vibrations create sound, and every sound can be categorized--depending on its frequency--into musical notes.  Therefore, the vibrations created by the motor in your refrigerator create a buzzing sound, and that buzzing sound if listened to carefully is a musical note that can be found on a piano.  So, there is constantly a multitude of notes being played simultaneously all around you, and your ear subconsciously picks up all those sounds.  A chord is a combination of three or more different notes.  If I play three or more keys on a piano at the same time I create a chord.  Three different sustained sounds in the environment also produce a chord sound.  If you are in the kitchen, the refrigerator is plugged in, a fan is turned on, the microwave is heating something up, and the water is running, you will create a four note chord in your kitchen.

Why does this matter?  Because music can influence your moods, and, in particular, certain chords can elicit certain emotional responses.  A major chord is constructed by combining the first, third, and fifth notes of a major scale.  Lets say we are in the key of C; by combining the notes C, E, and G we create a C major chord.  Major chords tend to be satisfying chords; there is a sense of everything coming together, of happiness.  Many chord progressions end with a major chord, because of the kick of joy and relief it produces.  Minor chords (which are constructed with the same notes as a major chord, with the only difference that the third note in the scale is made flat) are melancholy.  Diminished chords (where you combine the first, third, and fifth notes but this time you flat the fifth note in the scale) are sinister.  Seventh chords (first, third, and fifth notes, plus the seventh note in the scale is included and made flat) are suspenseful.  And so on and so forth.

So, if the notes produced by the buzzing of your refrigerator, the humming of your microwave, the singing of your running water, and the droning of your fan create a major chord, this might make you subconsciously happy.  If they create a minor chord the sounds might make you subconsciously sad.  Or so, they say.  Who knows?  The important part, I think, is that people talk about wishing they had a musical score to their daily life, the reality is they already do.