You're listening to TED Talks Daily, where we bring you new ideas to spark your curiosity every day.

I'm your host, Elise Hugh. Songs are the soundtrack of our lives. But why exactly do they make us feel the way they do?

One day, my dear friend, an artist, Susan Katan Katanio came to visit and I said, I'm ready to

start processing some of this.

I'd like to write a song.

And of course the first instinct could have been the minor key.

I was feeling a lot more complicated and complex than that.

So we decided to write it in a major key, altering one note. So it is a blend of

darkness and light. That's songwriter Scarlet Keys. In this archive talk from 2023, she sits down at a piano

to deconstruct the tools musicians use to make a melody unforgettable, from tone and repetition

to lyrics and chords,

she sheds light on music's ability to transform moments into memories.

When we listen to songs that give name to how we feel or we write them,

we can transmute and metabolize difficult emotions.

And I felt better on the other side of this song.

That's coming up right after a short break.

And now our TED Talk of the day.

Songs are the soundtrack of our lives.

From birthday parties, lullabies, our first love, our first heartbreak, our wedding song, our next wedding song,

and ultimately the song that's played at our funeral.

Songs enhance the moment or the season.

They help us dance. They make us cry.

...