the.com/downbeat
The conductor's hand falls, the music begins — or your mood does, depending who's asking.
means In music, the first, stressed beat of a measure; in mood, gloomy, pessimistic, or subdued.
from From the literal downward stroke of a conductor's baton or hand marking a measure's start; the glum sense arrived later, borrowing the 'down' for low spirits.
Conductor's cueMarks beat one, where the bar resets.
Mood twinMeans melancholy despite being music's launchpad.
Opposite countUpbeat precedes it, both literally and emotionally.