On The Title

Well hey there, everybody! Now, being the super observant people you are, you may have noticed that this lovely little thing called my blog is titled, "Elegance in Dissonance." Unless you are particularly fond of the band, "Sleeping At Last," (which, if you're not, you totally should be) you're probably not familiar with the phrase I chose for the title of this blog. Basically, it's from a song on their August EP from the "Yearbook" series called "Page 28." Here's a link so you can listen to it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_tebymuZBI

And here are the lyrics:

Have you read the script?
Could you picture it?
Is it worth the risk?

Everything I love
Is on the line,
On these neon signs.

But I need to know - when you looked away,
Was it something that I said? was it something that I said?
Well okay, okay, I need you more than I did before.
Now that the concrete is nearly set.

Here in the second act I'm living in repair.
Strange how the heart adapts when its pieces disappear.
And there, on page 28, I'm so tired of drying glue,
I begin my grand attempt at building something new.

Though I tend to write
The epiphany more immediately,
I guess I'm trusting that there's such a thing
As elegance in dissonance.

God, I'm skeptical of pulling scenes.
Was it something that I said? was it something that I did?
Please don't get me wrong - I still need your help
As history repeats itself

Here in the aftermath, I'm pulling at the seams.
Strange how the heart adapts in the absence of routine.
And there, on page 29, I find “new” and make it mine.
But I can't help casting shadows on all I leave behind.

Maybe I could afford to change a bit -
Even let go of the reigns.
Every torn out page was worth the risk
Now that the stakes have been raised.

So here in the final draft, I've given all I have.
Strange how the heart expands in the absence of a plan.
There's nothing left on the page, but I'm okay with that,
For I found my resolution
Was designed for stronger hands.

It's so funny, and kind of a little trippy, that this song is on the August EP. This is prettymuch exactly how I felt this past August. I really did feel like my life was in dissonance, that the pieces of my heart had disappeared, and that the story that I thought I was following had just stopped, and I had no idea where I was going or why anything was happening the way it was. But that all of that was okay. That I would be okay. 

Dissonance is defined as, 1. a harsh, disagreeable combination of sounds; discord
2. Lack of agreement, consistency, or harmony; conflict
3. A combination of tones contextually considered to suggest unrelieved tension and require resolution.

In other words, it's notes being sounded together that grate on your ear, that seem like they shouldn't go together, that don't "agree" or make sense, that create feelings of uneasiness. Thus, they "require resolution."

The thing about dissonance is that it is not only necessary to music, it is integral to the way it functions. Music would be incredibly boring were it only composed of consonant chords. There would be no need for chord progression or leading tones because nothing would ever need to be resolved. It would just be a jumble of nice-sounding notes, but with absolutely no direction or shape. Dissonances add a sense of longing, leading, urgency, and unfinished-ness, so that when we do hear those consonances again, we're relieved as we think back on the phrase. Suddenly, every dissonant note makes sense, and we agree that each moment of tension had to be there for the phrase to be beautiful. 

This piece, from the best movie version of Jane Eyre I've ever seen, with one of the best soundtracks I've ever heard, is a great example of how lots of dissonance in music can serve to make it absolutely gorgeous.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kjUrfznXwbo

The purpose of dissonance is to drive the phrase forward to resolution. It is the conflict between what doesn't make sense and what does that makes the music beautiful. It's the tension that makes you want to keep listening for the release. 

There have been a lot of points in my life where it seems like nothing makes sense. Times where I want to escape everything because thinking is painful. Nothing is going right, and I can't see where my life is going and I just want everything to stop. But every single time, I've eventually found resolution, and I've come out of every trial - every period of dissonance - stronger than before. 

"For I found my resolution / Was designed for stronger hands." Let's say our lives seem to be in dissonance - that means our lives are a musical score. And that score is being written by a brilliant Composer. A Composer who, I believe, is able to take the ugly, broken, inconsistent, painful dissonances, and turn them around to create a gorgeous resolution.

And, since we're in this vein of Resolution and Sleeping At Last, here's one of my favorite songs of all time called, "Resolve."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3UB4YQrffU

"Let's stay the course, and let the tension make us new."