dissonance, dissonant

The failure of the two notes in an interval or the many notes in a chord to blend or fuse into a sound that seems to be 'at rest'.

It is one pole of the continuum of musical sonance, the other pole being that of consonance.

Dissonance is consciously used as an important feature of European music and others derived from it. It seems to propel harmonic progressions on towards intervals or chords which are consonant.

see also

sonance,
accordance,
discord,
consonance.

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