A Resolution That Won’t Let You Down
David Jordan
This, the season of resolutions including:
- Never overeating again (again)
- Going to the gym every single day (this time)
- Learning a new language (Facebook acronyms)
- Organizing your music cabinet. (Oh, do I still have that?)
- Yadda yadda yadda
By now you should be having, well, at least a chuckle. A good 
Well, we could go on and on. And you and I could add to the list of resolutions that have let us down. But, I have good news for you, we have a resolution that won’t let you down, ever.
Yes, the good old Dominant – Tonic resolution. If you are unfamiliar with this look it up on your device. It’s not only a great progression, turns out it’s also a great metaphor. (*For the secrets of consonance and dissonance, check out the awesome footnote.)
I. Life is a series of dissonance (V7) and consonance (I). The goal, though, is that the dissonance directs us to the solid footing of the tonic, the starting point, the landing place of our lives.
- Dissonance is what causes us to want to go to the consonance.
We don’t have to be taught what dissonance is. It’s what we call most of our life experiences. So dissonance is a reality, but it’s one that needs to be followed through to get back to the Tonic.
Some people are so “dissonancy” that they end up just flitting from one dissonance to another. There have been composers over time that thought that was a great idea. Can’t name one, can you? Right, they and their “dissonancy music” are gone. (again)
- Some lives are mostly consonance and are, how shall we say, boring. Some are oblivious to the fact that there actually can be resolution to the dissonance in their lives -- that there is a great tonic out there calling their name.
Consonance is our resting place, that really nice feeling of equilibrium where we want to be after a hard day’s work. For example, after a staff meeting or finance meeting.
II. You’ll want to be the V7 of your musical community.
- A V7 wants to resolve things and not let them suspend indefinitely. As a V7 you will be able to help people want to move, want to go to a state of consonance.
- Some people will disregard the V7 – I as old fashioned, but what do we go to at the end of the Hallelujah Chorus? See?
- Oh, sure you can get all “tri-toney,” but when all is said and done people will thank you for being that solid V7 dissonance that will show them the way back to a solid footing, to the foundation of tonic, of I.
III. My hope for each of you is that you have and create a year of great V7-I resolutions. They won’t let you down.
* Okay for the academic in you, refer to the following about consonance and dissonance. Johannes de Garlandia. 13th century. De musica mensurabili positio.
“Perfect consonance: unisons and octaves. (Perfecta dicitur, quando due voces junguntur in eodem tempore, ita quod una, secundum auditum, non percipitur ab alia propter concordantiam, et dicitur equisonantiam, ut in unisono et diapason. — "[Consonance] is said perfect, when two voices are joined at the same time, so that the one, by audition, cannot be distinguished from the other because of the concordance, and it is called equisonance, as in unison and octave.")
“Perfect dissonance: semitone, tritone, major seventh (major third + fifth). (Here again, the perfect dissonances can only be deduced by elimination from this phrase: Iste species dissonantie sunt septem, scilicet: semitonium, tritonus, ditonus cum diapente; tonus cum diapente, semiditonus cum diapente; tonus et semitonium cum diapente. — These species of dissonances are seven: semitone, tritone, major third plus fifth; tone plus fifth, minor third plus fifth; tone and semitone plus fifth.”)
There you have it. Happy New Year.