Resolution?

1) What is dissonance

2) What is resolution?

3) How are the two related?

3a) Should all music really be simplified to a universal dichotomy?

1. I consider dissonance to be an interval of a 2nd or less. Dissonance produces tension and soundwaves of very close frequencies that conflict with one another rather than complement each other because the soundwaves interfere with each other, explaining the very wavy "wah wah wah" sound of dissonance. It is "unstable" so to speak. Dissonance, to most people I'd imagine, is not inherently a pleasant sound. However, dissonance is transitional into more "consonant" sounds. Some dissonance, for instance a 7th or 9th in a major or minor chord, do not distort the chord enough to truly make it sound 'bad', but adds a little added color that can sometimes express more emotion than the chord by itself. Of course, this is all in relative to the rest of the music.

The term dissonance itself implies conflict, with "son(are)" meaning sound whereas "dis" implies conflict or a separation, literally meaning 'apart'. Consonance, on the other hand, sounds 'together', i.e. in a complementary fashion.

2. A resolution is taking a dissonant sound and moving to a consonant sound, therefore 'resolving' the tension created by the dissonance. Obviously this is often used as an emotional release in some form.

3. You can't resolve without both; without both, you simply have straight dissonance or straight consonance.

Then further questions:

4a: Can a consonance resolve to another consonance?

4b: Can a dissonance resolve to another dissonance?

If so, explain why you think so.

No, I don't personally think so. I think to 'resolve' something you need tension and release, and consonance won't give you sufficient tension and dissonance won't give you a sufficient release, in my opinion.

I can't really resolve a problem if there isn't a problem to resolve. I also can't resolve a problem if there isn't a solution. Likewise, I can't resolve a dissonance without that dissonance, and I can't resolve that dissonance without a consonance.

You can modulate from one consonance to another or one dissonance to another, but I don't believe you can resolve without both dissonance and consonance. Perhaps you can resolve to the 'root' chord from another (from a D major to C major if C is the tonal 'center,' for instance), but I don't consider that a resolution unless there is dissonance involved along the way.

4a, 4b: yes, because in a musical context a sound is consonant or dissonant first and foremost in relation to other sounds.

Notice how no one even bothers to tackle 3a hahahaha

Well, I imagine that was probably the point of your post. I don't know...originally, dissonance was considered 2nds, 4ths, and 7ths. But who now considers a 4th dissonant? Well, it's more dissonant than a sixth, but less dissonant than a tri-tone, no?

Well 3a, definitely not. Music is music, and some people like things that others hate and visa versa. No problem with that =) No reason to categorize it like that.

Well 3a, definitely not. Music is music, and some people like things that others hate and visa versa. No problem with that =) No reason to categorize it like that.

Lazy response is lazy - try again

Sorry I'm ***** tired. I'll continue you this tomorrow afternoon after I've slept and done stuff

Not a lazy response, but all I really care to say about it. Music is whatever, if people want to fret about whether something is dissonant or not or atonal or not or whatever, that is their deal, but I don't really care. There's a lot more to music besides 'dissonance' and 'resolution,' 'consonance,' so no, there's no reason to classify them as such. But I don't see your point with that question.

No, I don't personally think so. I think to 'resolve' something you need tension and release, and consonance won't give you sufficient tension and dissonance won't give you a sufficient release, in my opinion.

I can't really resolve a problem if there isn't a problem to resolve. I also can't resolve a problem if there isn't a solution. Likewise, I can't resolve a dissonance without that dissonance, and I can't resolve that dissonance without a consonance.

You can modulate from one consonance to another or one dissonance to another, but I don't believe you can resolve without both dissonance and consonance. ...

So a textbook V - I isn't a resolution, in your opinion? Really?

Well considering that nearly everything I've seen that says a resolution is moving from a dissonant sound to a consonant sound, I suppose my answer would be a simple 'no'. A simple chord progression yes, but no I wouldn't consider that a resolution.

Add a seventh to the V, and yes it'd be a resolution

Well considering that nearly everything I've seen that says a resolution is moving from a dissonant sound to a consonant sound, I suppose my answer would be a simple 'no'. A simple chord progression yes, but no I wouldn't consider that a resolution.

Add a seventh to the V, and yes it'd be a resolution

When we talk about "resolution" we aren't necessarily talking about the resolution of dissonance, we're just talking about the resolution of tension. Dissonance does create tension (which can then be resolved), but it isn't the only way to create tension. Using James' example of the V-I cadence - chord V creates tension because it is built on the dominant and inherently feels like it wants to move (or resolve) to the tonic.

See I don't really think of that as "resolution" really I suppose, because I don't really feel much tension from the V. I've always known a resolution to be from dissonance to consonance but perhaps the same word has two slightly separate meanings and I was just attached to one of them =) I think of it that way because every definition I've seen of the word speaks of moving from dissonance into consonance, and I-V-I doesn't involve dissonance in either of the individual chords. At any rate, I stand corrected if that is indeed the actual definition of a resolution as well. :D

So...

1: Dissonance is tension, usually created a collection of sounds whose combination is not consonant - that is to say, the sound waves tend to interfere with one another as Jared explained.

2: A resolution is when you alleviate tension. Tension can be a simple yearning for a I chord in the presence of a basic V or IV, or it could be how an augmented sixth chord invites itself towards the V, or it could be anything our ear is trained to recognise as part of a simple progression i.e., we are trained that V usually leads to I, therefore when a V is present, what we may expect it to lead to is a I, therefore that course of action is the resolution.

3: Dissonance and resolution are not alone related - only when contexualised, as I laid out above. The nearest natural relation between dissonance and resolution occurs when a dissonance is comprised of tones that are very near a consonant - in say an augmented sixth. The Ab is close to the G, the C is close to the B, the D is already in place, and the F# is very near approaching a G. Logically, we expect them to move to the nearest consonance, and resolve to a G major chord. We don't necessary need a context to hear this chord and assume it's most logical "resolution," especially when we are used to hearing it. Again, context can definitely play a rule. We expect this rather more than we'd expect a C# minor chord to resolve to G major - to make this resolution work at all, we need to create a context around it that makes it seem logical that C# minor should lead directly to G major.

3a: Depends on the type of music you are writing. If you are writing in [[style galant]], a the dichotomy is rather obviously laid out already. For instance, minor seconds at any octave are pretty much avoided at all costs. Tritones are only ever used when directly followed by their logical, contextualised resolution. Fourths in the bass were avoided at all costs to the point that they were considered dissonant. In twelve-tone music, there is an entirely different dichtomy. A tone row may prescribe a resolution of a tritone to minor second dissonance. Is any of this dissonance to our ears? Of course - the sounds waves are bleating against each other like hell. But this type of motion may have been contextualised within the piece and therefore when we hear a tritone, we're used to it resolving to some minor second interval somewhere. If it resolved to a sixth, it would be out of context of the piece, therefore considered dissonant in context. A dichotomy could be argued endlessly, so why start now?

Lawl, the word "resolution" gets thrown around here as if it always meant the same thing.

Protip: It doesn't.

A CADENCE context, where V-I is the progression can be said to "resolve" only in the sense that the leading note moves a semitone upwards. It has nothing to do with chord dissonance (which is what would be with the 7th or with various suspensions, that's something entirely different.)

As for "tension," dissonances are nothing by themselves, just like any single chord by itself is nothing except a single chord. You have a harmonic context which gives you different meanings and interpretations to different things, and within that context you can maybe assign arbitrary terms to the individual elements. Otherwise, forget it.

Furthermore:

The Ab is close to the G, the C is close to the B, the D is already in place, and the F# is very near approaching a G. Logically, we expect them to move to the nearest consonance, and resolve to a G major chord. We don't necessary need a context to hear this chord and assume it's most logical "resolution," especially when we are used to hearing it.

"Thanks to context, we don't really necessarily need context!" Good job!

The fun part about context is that you can't really escape it. If you were literally looking at that chord in a complete cultural and musical vacuum, there's NO reason why you'd think what you propose there is "logical." The only reason you're doing it is because your cultural predisposition makes the decisions for you and you therefore find it "logical," when it really has nothing to do with logic.

After all, you don't hear traffic and constantly can't avoid but think "Oh, the TENSION! It must resolve!" do you? Or likewise the sound of rain, or any other dissonant sound formation found normally outside of music/cultural context.

But here's more, just for lols:

The nearest natural relation between dissonance and resolution occurs when a dissonance is comprised of tones that are very near a consonant - in say an augmented sixth.

Nearest natural what? What's natural again? Wouldn't a better example be an out of tune octave? That's a real obvious dissonance, but there's no typical "handling" of that in tradition is there? What's the "logical" thing to do then? Tune it "properly"? If so, is that "resolving" it as well?

And:

In twelve-tone music, there is an entirely different dichtomy. A tone row may prescribe a resolution of a tritone to minor second dissonance. Is any of this dissonance to our ears? Of course - the sounds waves are bleating against each other like hell.

Interestingly, the entire idea behind the "floating in tonality" deal with Schoenberg is the replacement of the dissonant/consonant hierarchy, instead using simply the word "sonance" to describe every interval as equal. In that way, it's very out of place to talk of "resolution" since there is no actual tone hierarchy that would dictate X must go to Y, instead there is simply another interpretation entirely of intervals and their relationships.

And so on~

Notice how no one even bothers to tackle 3a hahahaha

3a) Should all music really be simplified to a universal dichotomy?

Absolutely not...there's no possible way to objectively categorize "dissonance".

Re: "What is dissonance?" - even that changes for me with context. Laying on an Ab over a C7 chord can be more "out" depending on the situation - it would be horribly wrong in on a Dixieland gig; head-noddingly hip on a bebop tune; or meh-inducingly predictable on a Kenny Wheeler tune.

When is it dissonant? Who gets to decide that? Everyone has a different set of ears and experience - something that sounds very pleasing and consonant to me may be obnoxiously dischordant to someone else.

I'd have to say a V-I is resolution, but as you add dissonance such as V7-I the need to resolute becomes stronger.

SEE!! Gamma calls a seventh chord DISSONANT!! Whereas I would call C7sus(#9b9#11)/Ab dissonant. (well, maybe not...perhaps with a B-natural in the melody ... but you get my point)

Also, nice post SSC - I didn't see that till just now :thumbsup: