consonance

The smooth, settled quality of intervals whose waves fit together simply.

The smooth, settled feeling of two notes whose vibrations line up in a simple ratio, like the 2:1 octave or the 3:2 fifth. Consonant intervals fuse and feel at rest, and the ear does the arithmetic without being told. Its opposite is dissonance.

Learn it: Intervals · The math behind music

The one-sentence definition at the top is the same one the Theory Aide extension shows as a tooltip inside Ableton Live. Hover any dotted term for its own.