The Secret to Writing Sad Music That Hits Hard
- Stephen Berkemeier
- 6 days ago
- 3 min read
Why Valence, Energy, & Storytelling Matter More than Just "Minor Chords"
TL;DR
Writing powerful, sad music isn't just about using minor chords. The secret is understanding the type of sadness you're trying to portray — and matching its emotional size and energy level with your musical decisions
Start by Defining the Emotion
Every time you try to portray an emotion with music, the most important question to ask is:
| "What kind of [sadness] am I trying to express?"
Is it heartbreak? Quiet grief? A cinematic tragedy?
These all fall under "sad," but they feel very different — and your music should reflect that.
To translate these emotional nuances into music, I recommend starting with two simple tools:
Valence = how pleasant or unpleasant the emotion is
Sad emotions usually have a dark valence (they're unpleasant). That's why we tend to reach for minor modes, darker intervals, and slower tempos.
Energy Level = How depleting or invigorating the emotion feels
The energy in an emotion can be thought of as how physically expressive it is. Is this sadness still and reflective? Or urgent and explosive? This affects things like rhythm, pacing, and phrasing.
Size = How big the emotion feels in the body or story
Size refers to how overwhelming or intimate an emotion feels. Size isn't the same as energy. A low-energy emotion (like numbness or melancholy) can still feel massive — like a weight hanging over a character. This impacts things like your instrumentation, layering, and overall musical density.
| Emotions = Valence + Energy + Size. And music that hits hard understands how to match all three.
Three Types of Sadness (And How to Score Them)
Here's how this emotional model could apply to three different types of sadness.
Basic Sadness
Think: quiet disappointment, slow grief, or emotional fatigue:
Valence = Dark
Use minor chords & keys
Lean on dark melodic intervals (e.g., minor 3rds, minor 6ths, P4s, etc.)
Energy = Low
Slower Tempo (around 60 - 85 bpm)
Simple Rhythms (mostly quarter & eighth notes)
Simple Harmonic Rhythm (one chord per bar or slower)
Size = Moderate
Small to medium size in your music
emphasize smaller instrumentation and/or thinner textures
Simple layering, and low dynamics.
Melancholy/Nostalgia
Think: Reflective sadness, bittersweet memories, longing.
Valence = Neutral-Dark
Work with a minor key but use extended harmony (or a few extra major chords) to add warmth and ambiguity
Energy = Low
Slower Tempo (around 60 - 85 bpm)
Simple Rhythms (mostly quarter & eighth notes)
Simple Harmonic Rhythm (one chord per bar or slower)
Size = Intimate
Emphasize small instrumentation (like a solo piano)
soft dynamics, and limited layering.
Tragedy
Think: Cinematic collapse, loss, devastation.
Valence = Dark
Use minor chords & keys
Lean on dark melodic intervals (e.g., minor 3rds, minor 6ths, P4s, etc.)
Energy = High
Moderate/Fast tempo (around 85 - 110 bpm)
Lots of movement in the background (arpeggios, ostinato, percussion, etc.)
Longer, slower (dramatic) lines in the foreground.
Size = Overwhelming
Lots of Octave doublings
Full Orchestra (Emphasizing Strings & Brass)
Loud Dynamics
Strong Bassline
Big Percussion Hits
Valence + Energy + Size = Emotional Blueprint
This 3-part model gives you an incredibly flexible emotional toolkit to work with. By manipulating size and energy alone, you can dramatically shift the emotional content of a single chord progression. For example the same minor key chord progression could use:
A large-size, low energy cue = numbness, weight, or mourning
A low-size, high-energy cue = frustration or anxiety
A medium-size, low-energy = quiet sadness or emotional distance.
It's not about rules — it's about matching your music's shape to the shape of the emotion you're trying to portray.
Want to Learn How to Do This In Your Own Writing?
If this framework made you rethink your approach — you’ll love my textbook The Musical Storyteller.
It breaks down how to score emotions in music using valence, energy, size, and more — with music theory lessons, orchestration tips, and writing exercises.
📘 Grab the full textbook here
Or grab my free eBook - The Composer's Roadmap — a free guide to teaching yourself film composition.
🎓 Or enroll in my class on portraying emotion with music — built to help composers write with emotional clarity.
Final Thoughts
The most powerful music doesn't just "sound sad."
It feels sad — because it mirrors how the emotion is actually experienced in life.
So don't just write minor chords and slow melodies.
Start with this:
How sad is this feeling?
How overwhelming is it?
How much energy does it carry?
And let your answers guide everything!
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