Thursday, December 3, 2009

Amanda DeSalme-Tri-Tone


in art, there are certain representations of the devil. In music, it is the interval called the "Tri-Tone." This interval has a very dissonant and disconcerting sound to it, and was avoided completely during the middle ages and Renaissance. It wasn't really used in music until the classical period. (1750-1825) It is used a lot now in forms of jazz.

I think the dissonance is a quirky kind of beautiful. I don't find it to sound demonic, unless used in a way to make it sound that way. Tri-tones in the context of extended jazz chords sound shimmery and brilliant. Exaggerated tri-tones in a melody can sound just plain evil.

I think that both ways of using tri-tones are very interesting. We must understand evil to understand goodness. Van der Leeuw talks about the beautiful and the terrible, both leading to a holy experience. Experiencing something awesome can be frightening and amazing. Sometimes holy experiences can be incredibly frightening.

Just sheer power of mountains can put me in a state of terrible amazement, but it is a good feeling.

Eastern religions believe in Yin and Yang, opposites balancing each other out. In holy experiences, the terrible balances out the wonderful; the frightening balances the comforting. All come together in one unified awesome experience of ecstasy.

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