Musical Consonance & Dissonance Explained...

http://www.andrewwasson.com/

Andrew Wasson of Creative Guitar Studio answers questions from off of his Guitar Blog website...

Q). What exactly is meant with the terms Consonance & Dissonance in music?
Angelo -- Salt Lake City - Utah

A). This is a question that musicians always wrestle with. Unfortunately, there's no clear answer to it either. Mainly because as music continues to evolve, it continues to be more & more subjective to the listener as well. But, there are various guidelines to the explanation. These guidelines were established way back when music that 1st employed harmony was first appearing, (around 900 AD). The simple answer to the question is that Consonance is a pleasant sound that can begin or end a piece of music, and Dissonance is an unpleasant sound that calls for consonance (or resolution). Another simple approach to the answer involves taking untrained non-musician listeners and allowing them to evaluate various intervals. And, what that can tell us, is that the untrained listener hears Consonance as intervals which sound most like a singular tone. And, Dissonance to the untrained ear sounds as multiple-tones. Finally the slightly more complex answer, more from the perception I'd say of an audio engineer, involves the ratio of frequencies between the notes of an interval. Essentially, the smaller number of the ratio will equate to a more consonant sound. And, the larger number of the beat ratio frequency will equal a more dissonant sound.

Thanks for writing in.

The Creative Guitar Studio Web-site:
http://www.creativeguitarstudio.com/

Andrew's Official Q & A Guitar Blog Website:
http://www.andrewwasson.com

Andrew's "Creative Guitar Studio" YouTube Channel:
http://www.youtube.com/creativeguitar...

Follow Andrew on Blogspot:
http://creativeguitarstudio.blogspot....

Follow on Twitter for new lesson announcements:
http://twitter.com/andrewwasson

MySpace:
http://www.myspace.com/andrewwasson

Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Andrew-...

_____________________________________

• Category

  Music

[dkistheshizam]

Great lesson Andrew! I must say I do miss your longer videos though. I know youtube has made it rather difficult to load those longer videos, but a topic like this would be great in lengthy concise detail; which is what I've always thought you do best. Regardless, very informative, and clear explanation on this subject given the time constraint. Thanks again.

[Django New Tune]

that's "mastering the matter"! a logical, simple answer for every little question

[Mildred Miller]

This was a quick easy explanation for a non-musician. Thank you..really, really, helpful and clear.

[onkelandi1605]

Thanks alot for putting this video out man! I think i am gonna click Subscribe!

[Aaron Frederick]

Well, not "scientific" terms. But there's science behind it

[Aaron Frederick]

Actually, Consonance and Dissonance are scientific terms refering to tones that differ by different critical bandwidths in the basilar membrane (Which is in your inner ear).

A Consonant sound Differs by 1 or more critical bandwidths, and Dissonant sounds differ by less than 1. Dissonant sounds, because they differ by less than 1 critical bandwidth, create a combination of the two tones in the same bandwidth, which creates a mindfuck in your ear

[evilcupcake813]

Thank you for this I have a test later on and this was really hard or me to figure out, this helped lots.

[Warrior2God]

I see. Forgive my imprudence; I was speaking from the Roman Church's point of view on the augmented 4th when I said "you wouldn't use anything diabolical to praise God." In retrospect, that's what the priests and priestesses thought way back yonder, but we know now that the utilization of augmented and diminished chords can be quiet melodious when used skillfully. Just for argument's sake, however, musical interpretation is as vast as the mind can fathom, so calling it "diabolic" isn't "wrong."

[Curtis Flow]

Thanks for replying, but I wasn't asking about augmented 4ths (or diminished 5ths). I was asking about perfect 4ths being an exception to the consonant rule. Also, I take it that when you said "The music should therefore be beautiful and moving" and "and you wouldn't use anything diabolical to praise God" that those are your opinions about augment 4ths right? Who actually decides whether aug4ths are "diabolic" or not? Music is purely music.

[Warrior2God]

The augmented 4th was known as the "chord of evil" and was banned from any church music during the Renaissance. Composing music was very much an act of praising God. The music should therefore be beautiful and moving. The augmented 4th, or Tritonus, which spans three whole steps in the scale, is one of the most dissonant musical intervals around. It was considered unpleasant and ugly, and was named "diabolus in musica"- "the devil in music"- and you wouldn't use anything diabolical to praise God

[Warrior2God]

So by definition, a perfect 5th is consonant while an inverted major 7th is dissonant? Would that make the major 7th dissonant as well?

[Curtis Flow]

@smfaces I learned that the perfect 4th is an exception to the consonant rule and it was explained that perfect 4ths are dissonant when anove the bass. Can you help me out with this in terms of intervals?