Sequential consonance/dissonance: Effects of chord directionality, cadences, and voice leading

Harmonic expectations are actively connected with the syntactic and asymmetric organisation of Western tonal harmony. Their violation has been associated with concepts such as tension, surprise, completeness, or harmonic relatedness and coherence, among others. The aim of this study is to examine whether the violation of expected chord directionality is related to perceived consonance/dissonance (C/D) of entire short chord sequences, focusing on the impact of horizontal manipulations, whilst maintaining identical the vertical content (average C/D of the chords comprising a short sequence). We conducted two experiments, with chord progressions presented in an original and retrograde arrangement. Their harmonic content ranged from strictly diatonic and tonal to highly chromatic or 12-tone. Participants reported the perceived consonance/dissonance of each sequence. Findings suggest that chord directionality indeed affects C/D evaluation in tonal sequences as opposed to atonal sequences. In addition, chord directionality appears to play hardly any role when a clear tonal hierarchy is missing, that is, in the absence of a perfect cadence that unambiguously points to a specific tonal centre of equilibrium and closure. Cadences (related to closure effects) are privileged compared with other harmonic progressions as an influencing factor to consonance perception. Voice leading appears to have some influence in such evaluations.