Dissonance

WPRB News and Culture

Today, we’re talking Dissonance – but no, we won’t be sharing tips on how to navigate political conversations with difficult people. Instead, we’re talking about dissonance in music and in our inner worlds, to help us all remember how dissonance can sometimes be a great thing. First, Brianna Dai asks composers about how dissonant sounds can add emotion to compositions. Next, Lucy McWeeny talks Oedipus Rex and how we all struggle to reconcile the two halves of ourselves. Finally, to end with another musical story, Navani Rachumallu and I dissect what dissonance in music actually is–and, in fact, what music itself is.

Hosted and produced by Natalia Maidique. Reported, recorded, and produced by Brianna Dai, Lucy McWeeny, Navani Rachumallu, and Natalia Maidique.

All music used under Creative Commons license. Theme music: "Montanita," by Ratatat. Audio clips in “Music Philosophy” from What Makes Music Sound Good by Dmitri Tymoczko and Sound Examples for Tuning Timbre Spectrum Scale by Bill Sethares.

(00:00) Introduction

(01:39) Conducting with Dissonance

(11:50) Oedipus Rex

(27:07) Music Philosophy