Wilco48,

As several people have said, the answer is yes, an enormous amount of research. However, there are a number of aspects to it, and you are probably interested in some more than others.

Some of the answers are rooted in basic physics and the physiology of the ear, and I think they are pretty universal once understood (this buys an argument, of course, but usually those who disagree are either interested in another, less well understood aspect of music or they are offended by the application of physics to music in the first place). The consonance or dissonance of combinations of notes is an example of this (the musical desirability of consonance vs. dissonance is entirely separate and much more a matter of learning).

On the other hand, "high-level" questions like "why does this song make me feel sad" are *not* primarily questions of physics and not amenable to quick answers so far as I know (I am much better informed about the physics of music than the psychology of music, I hasten to add). The answer might not even be "musical" (perhaps you associate it with a tragic event).

Whether the twelve-bar blues is good music is I think not a matter of physics. Part of the relation of the I, IV and V chords is, however, because they are particularly consonant on basic physics grounds. It is surely a matter of experience whether that consonance is particularly pleasing, though the universality of the major scale is an indication that perhaps we are naturally *inclined* to find those combinations pleasing, and those reasons *are* I think rooted in the basic physics.

I think a good rule of thumb is that what we perceive is often fairly close to the basic physics and can often be understood on those grounds. How we react to what we perceive is much less often amenable to such arguments (though I think we have some inborn tendancies which are amenable to a physical analysis).

Personally, I find the physics of music extremely interesting and satisfying, but I try to remember that few people share this interest!

Dustin