Minor Ninths

Minor Ninths The minor ninth is considered the “last dissonant interval”, even more than a minor second. Therefore it should be handled with care in any chord voicing (including minor ninths + octave(s)). The inherent dissonance in this interval will often...

Tolerance of Dissonance

Tolerance of Dissonance One of the strongest factors in music is the duality between tension and resolution, which can be found in the smallest musical units (e.g. V-I cadence) to the largest extents (big structure of symphonies etc.). However the ear of the 21st...

Handling Dissonances

Handling Dissonances Dissonances need to be written very carefully. While many inexperienced composers write in a way that they just add “random” notes to a sound in order to make it dissonant, it will most likely result indeed in a very dissonant sound, however...

Major 7th Chords in Film Scoring

Major 7th Chords in Film Scoring Major7 chords (e.g. Cmaj7) are a bit tricky to handle and should be written with care. They are usually used as tonic chords, however function very nicely on the subdominant position as well. The actually very dissonant major7 in this...

Alternative Chord Structures

Alternative Chord Structures The structure of having a chord consisting of root, third, fifth etc. is nothing that is written in stone. Alternative chord structures may have a very interesting and useful sound and still sound like a fully working chord. A nice field...