Consonance & Dissonance

The perceived stability of simple frequency ratios against the tension of complex ones — music’s physics.

Core Principles & Analysis

• Pythagoras tied consonance to simple string-length ratios like 2:1 and 3:2.
• The tritone was branded diabolus in musica — the devil in music — by medieval theorists.
• What counts as dissonant is historical: jazz normalized chords that would have scandalized 1700.