Metaphors for understanding harmony

Abstract

In this article, I discuss the limitations of the main conceptual metaphor for the understanding of harmony in Western music, namely, the metaphor harmony is tension and relaxation, and suggest alternative metaphors for this experience that may aid in investigations about the expressive potential of harmony. I discuss how this metaphor acquired great importance in recent research in music cognition, and has been considered fundamental in the experience of meaning and emotion in music, but has had some shortcomings in accounting for this experience. I point out that the metaphor structures mainly the syntactical aspects of the harmony, but is not sufficient to account for what more semantic aspects of this experience would be. Lastly, I suggest the metaphors of harmony as forces, color and gesture as possibly interesting alternatives that may be promising in investigations on how harmonic materials, such as chords, chord progressions and key areas, become associated with different expressive meanings.