Whether you’re a music lover and simply listen to music, or a novice musician, there are some words to be aware of when trying to describe or play the sound of a song. Or better yet, the feeling of a song. The words themselves mean this:

Consonance – Consonant chords are, roughly speaking, made up of notes that 'sound good' together, like middle C and the G above it (an interval - called a fifth).
Dissonance - Dissonant chords are combinations that sound jarring, like middle C and the C sharp above (a minor second). In Western music, dissonance is the quality of sounds that seem unstable and have an aural need to resolve to a stable consonance.

Both consonance and dissonance are words applied to harmony, chords, and intervals and, by extension, to melody, tonality, and even to rhythm and meter.

Consonance and dissonance. Intervals are traditionally considered either consonant or dissonant. Consonant intervals are usually described as pleasant and agreeable. Dissonant intervals are those that cause tension and desire to be resolved to consonant intervals.

So that’s what you’ll find on an Internet search. It defines what they mean. I’ll give you a clearer description:

When you hear something “happy” sounding, it’s usually consonance. The music usually involves major chords and/or a happy sounding melody line of notes.
When you hear something “unhappy” sounding, it’s usually dissonance. The music involved will usually be heard with minor chords and/or have a melody line that hits you as sad sounding.

That’s it in a nutshell.

Of course, it’s not just that cut and dry in music. Often times, music compositions will have a combination of both major and minor chords, which makes them sound happy and sad in the same song. There could be a part of the song that is sad, where someone became hurt, or something else bad happened. This would normally use the dissonance of minor sounds, in music, to set that mood. Same goes for a happy story or explanation in the song. The composer will try to use the music to give it that feeling. The composer will use both sounds to give you the emotional “ups and downs” or “highs and lows,” in the story of the song, so you can experience the different emotional feelings.

But again, It’s not always so cut and dry. There are some very happy lyrics composed to super sad sounding music and vice versa. That’s what makes lyric writing and song writing so magical. You are the narrator, the inventor, the author… of what the sound and feeling of your song should be. You are the artist. Therefore, you are the creator of good, bad, happy, or sad. It’s such a free feeling to write lyrics that eventually become a song. Very few people get to experience it, but I would recommend it to all human beings. It’s such a cool feeling. And in the end, that’s really what it’s all about…feelings.

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