[Nils Jacob Holt Hanssen]

I don’t have any problems with dissonant or atonal music; in fact I enjoy it quite a bit, be it full-fledged compositions in these styles, or dissonant elements in otherwise tonal compositions. John Williams snuck in some dissonance here and there even in his crowd-pleasing fanfares, for instance, just to spice things up and make sure we pay attention 😉 . And I like that – it tickles the ear and makes an otherwise tonal composition more interesting.

But for fully atonal compositions, there has to be some structure and organization to it for it to be enjoyable, as others have mentioned. It can’t just be a collection of seemingly random effects (although in such cases, the composer will probably argue that they are not random).

And I’m intrigued by exactly what it is that makes dissonance sound unpleasant (to many people). Why is it that a C major chord (C-E-G-C) sounds just fine, but three tones, each a half-tone apart, played together – C, C# and D, for instance – make many people cover their ears? To be even more specific, what is it in the ear-brain connection that make the frequencies of the C major chord (262 Hz + 330 Hz + 392 Hz + 523 Hz in the middle octave) sound nice together, but 262 Hz + 277 Hz + 294 Hz will make people grimace?

Could it be some evolutionary, genetic trait? Is it because tonal music reminds people of nice natural sounds like birdsong, while dissonance is more akin to the sounds of natural dangers, unconsciously conjuring up things like a landslide or a lion’s roar?