Scientific American once analyzed Mozart's happy birthday diddle. We all know the song: "Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday dear XXX, happy birthday to you!
It seems so simple, child-like and catchy. Any yet it has endured in hundreds of languages for centuries. In fact, the structure is very complex from a psychological point of view, it harnesses many of the musical attributes essential to a song meant to be sung in unison by multiple voices of different pitch without anyone feeling out of tune.
The first and second lines are repeats of the same four words. Repetition helps create expectation, excitement. And in the third line he brings us down just enough so that coming back up again for the final burst feels that extra bit happier. People hang on to the last "you" for many beats because they feel so happy.
It seems so simple, child-like and catchy. Any yet it has endured in hundreds of languages for centuries. In fact, the structure is very complex from a psychological point of view, it harnesses many of the musical attributes essential to a song meant to be sung in unison by multiple voices of different pitch without anyone feeling out of tune.
The first and second lines are repeats of the same four words. Repetition helps create expectation, excitement. And in the third line he brings us down just enough so that coming back up again for the final burst feels that extra bit happier. People hang on to the last "you" for many beats because they feel so happy.