Lesson Goal: To understand the concepts of harmonic Consonance and Dissonance… and to start applying this understanding when you read, compose, and improvise…
Table of Contents
Prerequisites
Basic music reading… the LOVE of music… and the discipline to study and practice.
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Consonance
Consonance is the state of harmony that sounds and feels stable, settled, resolved, and free of tension. Here’s an example…
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Dissonance
Dissonance is the state of harmony that sounds and feels unstable, unsettled, unresolved, and full of tension. Here’s an example…
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Consonance or Dissonance?
Consonance and dissonance are relative terms in at least four ways:
- There degrees of Consonance and Dissonance (C&D).
- There are many flavors of C&D.
- Our perception of C&D depends strongly on the musical context.
- C&D are highly subjective terms (One person’s consonance may be another person’s dissonance.
Here’s a deliciously ambiguous example…
Is this Consonant? Dissonant? Why quibble? Why not just experience, learn, and enjoy!
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learn more… Chord Voicing
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dissonance – the boss (my wife that is) is a film fan and she told me the shower scene in Psycho was violins doing your example staccato F-E chord
The boss is quite right, Dave. I intentionally copped the example from said source! Thanks for sharing, man.
the last example is beautiful!
Thanks, man. See: https://piano-ology.com/jazz-school/major-7-chord-voicing-lydian-scale-chord/