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Consonance and Dissonance

The document discusses consonance and dissonance in music theory. It defines consonance as stable, pleasant musical intervals that do not require resolution, while dissonance refers to unstable, unpleasant intervals that want to resolve. The perfect fifth, octave, and major/minor thirds and sixths are considered consonant, while seconds, sevenths, and ninths are dissonant. The classification of intervals as consonant or dissonant depends on musical context and the common practice period. The perfect fourth can be either, depending on whether it is supported by other notes.

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Tanish Pruthi
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92 views2 pages

Consonance and Dissonance

The document discusses consonance and dissonance in music theory. It defines consonance as stable, pleasant musical intervals that do not require resolution, while dissonance refers to unstable, unpleasant intervals that want to resolve. The perfect fifth, octave, and major/minor thirds and sixths are considered consonant, while seconds, sevenths, and ninths are dissonant. The classification of intervals as consonant or dissonant depends on musical context and the common practice period. The perfect fourth can be either, depending on whether it is supported by other notes.

Uploaded by

Tanish Pruthi
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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06/03/2017 MusicTheory/ConsonanceandDissonanceWikibooks,openbooksforanopenworld

MusicTheory/ConsonanceandDissonance
Consonanceanddissonancearesubjectivequalitiesofrelationshipthatweassigntomusicintervals.Aquick
reviewofintervalsmightbehelpfulifyou'reapproachingthesubjectforthefirsttime.Adissonantintervalcanbe
describedasbeing"unstable"ordemandingtreatmentbyresolvingtoaconsonantinterval.Aconsonantintervalis
onethatisstableanddoesnotdemandtreatment.However,dissonanceinitselfisnotanundesirablethingweuse
dissonancetoprovidethe"spice"tomusic.Thus,thereisahierarchyofconsonantanddissonantintervals.(Chords
havingdissonantintervalsarethemselvesconsidereddissonant).

Notethatthisdistinctiondependsentirelyonmusicalcontext.Assuch,asonoritywhichisconsonantinone
contextwhereitdoesnotseemtodemandresolution(say,major2ndsinaDebussyprelude)maysoundharshor
outofplaceinadifferentcontextwhereitmustberesolved(thesamemajor2ndsinaBachfugue).Inthisarticle,
wewillbeusingtheterms"consonant"and"dissonant"astheyareunderstoodincommonpracticetonalmusic,as
isthetacitconventionwhenspeakingofconsonanceanddissonanceingeneral.

Consonantintervalsintonalmusic
Theperfectfifthandtheperfectoctaveareconsideredperfectconsonances.Theunisonisaconsonance
insofarasitcanbeconsideredanintervalatall(manysayitcannot).
Themajorthirdandsixth,aswellastheminorthirdandsixth,areimperfectconsonances.
Theperfectfourthisdissonantinsomecontextsbutconsonantinothers(seebelow).Specifically,theperfect
fourthisdissonantwhenitisformedwiththebassnoteofanysonority.

Dissonantintervals
Theperfectfourthisconsidereddissonantincommonpracticemusicwhennotsupportedbyalowerthirdor
fifth(butseebelow).
Majorandminorseconds,sevenths,andninthsaredissonant.Composer/theoristVincentPersichetti,inhis
bookTwentiethCenturyHarmony,classifiesmajor2nds,minor7ths,andmajor9thsas"softdissonances,"
whereasminor2nds,major7ths,andminor9thsare"sharpdissonances."
Thetritone(anaugmentedfourthordiminishedfifth)isdissonant.IntheMiddleAgesandRenaissance,it
wasknownasdiabolusinmusicabecausetheperfectfifthwasconsideredtobeareflectionofthedivine,
andthetritonefallsjustshortofaperfectfifth.[Notefortheadvanced:Technically,itisnotpropertorefer
tothediminishedfifthasa"tritone."Theword"tritone"refersto"threewholetones,"thedistance
representedbythetritone.Thismeansthattheaugmentedfourth,whichcomprisesthreewholetones,isa
truetritone,whilethediminishedfifth,becauseofitsaccidentalspelling,isnotmadeupofthreewhole
tonesandisthereforenotatritone.However,itisacceptableasaninformalconventiontorefertothe
diminishedfifthasa"tritone."]
InJazz,theminor9thisoftenconsideredtoodissonantforpracticaluse.Thisisthebasisforsomenotes
beingcalled"avoidnotes",typicallythe4thofamajorscaleitsoundsdissonantbecauseitformsaminor
9thwiththe3rd.Other"avoidnotes"aretheminor6thinaeolianmode,ortheminor2ndinphrygianmode.
Somechordsaretypicallyvoicedtoavoidaminor9th(musiciansinverttheintervalandplayamajor7th
instead).Forexample,inaCadd11chord(seeCompleteListofChordPatterns),thereisaminorninth
betweenthethird,EandtheeleventhF.IftheFisplayedbelowtheE,theintervalbecomesamajorseventh,
whichislessdissonant.

Theperfectfourth

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Theperfectfourthistheinversionoftheperfectfifth.Incommonpracticemusic,itcanbebothconsonantand
dissonant:inthiscase,ithasaneedforresolutionwhenunsupportedbylowernotes,inwhichcaseitisdissonant
eventhoughitsoundsas"good"asthefifth.Thefourthisalwaysconsonantwhensupportedbyalowerthirdor
perfectfifth,forexample,EGCEisconsonant,butGCEisdissonant.Inmorecontemporarymusic,many
considerthefourthtoalwaysbeasconsonantasthefifth.

InMedievalmusic,theperfectfourthwasevenconsideredaperfectconsonance,astheperfectfifthandtheoctave.
However,thisattitudenolongerprevails.

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