Dissonance vs. Consonance: Essential Elements of Music

         Today we're going to talk about consonance and dissonance, how they are created in music and how they interact with each other.  
       
          We all know what a "utopian" society is right? It's a civilization that is the very essence of perfection. Everything is idealistic to the creators. There are no wars, no starvations, and no movements against the system, and this is what creates a seemingly perfect society. On the other hand however, there is chaos, "anarchy" as some might label it, and in this confusion no social structure or civilization can be made out from the clashing of people and their conflicting ideals.
           So we know what it means to live in a utopian society and a chaotic society, now let's connect this to music theory in the form of harmony. Harmony is the use of simultaneous pitches/tones/voices/chords in a phrase or piece of music. When listeners think of harmony, they'll think of interacting intervals being voiced by different instruments or vocals in an arrangement. Typically, people associate harmony as always sounding "good" or "etherial", when really harmony can sound heavenly or uneasy depending on what type of harmony you're going for.
 
    Let's put this into practice before we begin to break this down;

Here is an example of the song "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" written in two-part harmony. Notice that the melody (the primary line) is written in the treble clef while the harmony (complimenting line) is written in the bass clef. The affect of this is to provide support for the melody from a lower octave, giving the song a stronger sound and increasing the range of the piece.

When talking about how notes or chords interact with each other, it's helpful to think of two types of relationships; Dissonance and Consonance.

Consonance is a harmony in which (while sometimes spread out) form triads, chords, and intervals that are considered "stable" or at a resolved state. Dissonance is quite the opposite however, and is defined as an arrangement of notes or intervals that are "unstable", or unresolved. Occurrences of dissonance in music usually are compared to "harsh" sounds, or ones that make the listen expect a resolution. Different kinds of consonance can be further divided into subgroups such as "perfect" or "imperfect" harmonies, but the general idea is that these sounds "blend" well together and give off the illusion of fusion between two tones.

"A stable tone combination is a consonance; consonances are points of arrival, rest, and resolution."
-Roger Kamien

For example; The chords to the left are paired together in this manner because the second is resolving the first. Notice that in the Dsus4 chord, a major second is formed between G and A. Because of the quality of this chord, it is an unresolved version of a D major chord, and the use of the D major chord after it is what resolves the phrase. Similarly, the G7 chord is at a state of unrest and wants to resolve to the tonic chord of the progression (which is C major). Unresolved cluster's of seconds can also create dissonance because the pitches are clashing with one another and want to resolve into a more pleasant m3 or a triad.

But just as conflict is important in the plot line of a good story, so is dissonance in the harmonies of a good arrangement. Without this "clashing" or need to resolve there would be no feeling of movement throughout the piece, and as pretty as it might sound it would be uneventful and...boring. So be thankful of these points of musical interest! They are the embed flow of motion in music!

Here' a video I found that helps to explain this concept in a little more detail by providing excellent examples of what each form of harmony sounds like; Consonant and Dissonant Harmony

If you have any more questions about dissonance or consonance, feel free to leave comments below!

Sincerely, ZS

Application: Intervals, Sight-Reading, and Audiation

     Alright, let's apply what we talked about in my last post. As a refresher, last time I covered how to recognize various intervals using classic songs that we all know. What we're going to do now is look at some of the music that I've sung in the past and use this method to understand how to sight read specific intervals without playing them on a piano first.

Shown below is a 4-part choral arrangement for Francis Scott Key's "The Star Spangled Banner"

Let's quickly identify the intervals that are sung by each voice part.


"Oh -" : m3 (Frosty the Snowman)

"say-can" : M3 (Kum Bah Yah)

"can-you" : m3

"you-see," : P4 (Here comes t. Bride)

     By recognizing the intervals I'm going to sing, I can figure out in my head where the line is supposed to go.

Let's look at another example where we can see the intervals existing across voice-parts.

Look at the Bass and Tenor line (bottom two lines). Notice that neither one is that complicated, but remember that in a choir, the notes are being sung at the same time. So while the tenors are singing a "F" in "bursting", the basses are singing "F" an octave lower, forming a P8 interval.

But when the tenor's sing the "Eb" in "gave", the basses stay on their "F" on the same beat in the measure. Think about the notes "F" and "Eb". While in this instance they are in different octaves, the affect they create when played together is the same: M2 (Major Second)

What this does is create Dissonance in the music (we'll discuss this concept in a later post), and give the music a sense of motion as it moves to resolve to the M3 that is created in the beginning of the next measure (consonance). Like I said, don't worry about these terms because we'll cover them in a different post. Right now, just understand that intervals can exist in both individual melodies and across voice parts or chords.

        For some fun choral terms, let's talk about what sight-reading actually is, and how our newfound skill of identifying intervals can help us do this without the need of accompaniment. If you're in a high school choir right now, you might be familiar with what I'm talking about. Sight-reading is the ability to be sing a line of music after only being given the starting pitch/key signature. When I was in high school and learning a new piece,  teacher would usually have us listen to various recordings of the song before we even started figuring out the notes. After that we would go over the rhythm specific parts of the song, and only then, after days of looking at the music and discussing it's tempo/rhythm, would we actually start singing.
 
         For those of you that want to sing in college, let me give you some helpful advice. Most college choral directors will expect you to know how to sight-read. This doesn't mean get the music and practice it for a couple days with a piano to help you. This means they give you the music, tell you what key it's in (if you can't figure that our already), give you the starting pitch, and you start singing.

          So how do you do this? Well, it's a tricky little skill called audiation. This is the ability to hear music or pitches in your head without music being physically played. It's kinda like daydreaming, but with music. In this way talented singers can hear their pitch without disturbing others by trying to find their note out loud. Try practicing this skill at home or in choir next time your teacher wants you to sing a certain pitch. As long as you know the starting note and understand how intervals sound (remember our examples from the previous post), you'll be able to sing the pitch perfectly the first time without having to find it by humming or "sliding".

        Now these directors aren't going to expect perfection the first time you sing a song, but that's the difference between high school and college. Here, they expect you to have a basic understanding of intervals and chord progressions so you can accurately "guess" where your melody/harmony line is going to go. Don't get overwhelmed as a freshmen though, because usually you're going to be in at least one large ensemble at first, and you're going to get a lot of help from the older/more experienced member's of your section (this will help you really hone in your skills for when you get into smaller choirs).

          I hope this way helpful in explaining how to apply your newfound knowledge of intervals in choir or solo singing. Note that this can also be used in other instruments, but it requires more practice to understand which notes/hand positions will produce specific pitches. Nevertheless the concept is the same. With a basic understanding of intervals and how harmony lines interact with each other, you can sing on pitch with brand new music and quickly find how your voice-part works with the rest of the choir.
         
          Thanks for reading, leave any comments or questions below if you have them! Also if you have a piece of music that you want analyzed, take a picture of it and we can include it in a future post.

Sincerely, ZS