Consonance and Dissonance of Harmonic Sounds

Abstract

Just as a tree may crash silently (or noisily) to the ground, depending on the definition of sound, the terms “consonance” and “dissonance” have both a perceptual and a physical aspect. There is also a dichotomy between attitude and practice, between the way theorists talk about consonance and dissonance and the ways that performers and composers use consonances and dissonances in musical situations. This chapter explores five different historical notions of consonance and dissonance in an attempt to avoid confusion and to place sensory consonance in its historical perspective. Several different explanations for consonance are reviewed, and curves drawn by Helmholtz, Partch, and Plomp for harmonic timbres are explored.