by Sachiko Isihara
What is Dissonance?
The musical concept of harmony and dissonance is taught very early in the Suzuki Piano repertoire. Dissonance is the resulting sound when two pitches are played together or sequentially causing a clash that is generally considered disagreeable to the ear. As one hears the moment of dissonance, one is compelled to move forward to a more harmonious interval. This more consonant sound is known as its resolution.
As we teach our Suzuki music students to play by ear, many piano students are unknowingly affected by the occurrence of dissonance. An example of this is in m. 11 of French Children’s Song, the sixth piece in Book One. In this measure on the fourth quarter note, there is a minor seventh between the left-hand sol (G) and the right-hand fa (F). If the teacher points out this particular moment and the student hears the dissonance and learns that it is intentional by the composer, the measure is learned smoothly. Without this awareness of dissonance, many students stumble in this measure. Children hear the dissonance and consciously or subconsciously try to avoid the dissonance and thus, play the wrong notes.
Dissonance in music allows for added richness to the harmonic progressions of a piece. By its nature, dissonance pushes the music forward so that a more pleasing sound can be reached, its resolution. Composers use dissonance strategically to create musical tension that serves to drive the music forward towards resolution. This flow of the music is also part of life and can be a life lesson for our students.
Dissonance in a Suzuki Lesson
In the early stages of our Suzuki learning, we guide our students through many small steps and successfully build the foundation for more advanced techniques. Often, the beginning student finds these lessons easily accomplished and is eager to move forward. This is the design of the Suzuki pedagogy and the training courses our Suzuki teachers receive. Our task as Suzuki teachers is to create as smooth a path as possible consisting of many small steps that the student must successfully integrate into their technique. There comes a time in every student’s learning when they come to a task that is more difficult. In spite of our responsibility as Suzuki teachers to break this task into smaller steps, there is still the “teaching moment” when the student must venture outside of their comfort zone. This could be for a “global learner” a moment where they must learn to start in a specific spot in the music that is neither the beginning, the beginning of a section, nor even the beginning of a phrase. This moment of starting literally in the middle of something causes discomfort, is stressful for the student, and feels disorienting. At that very moment, learning how to start right at that spot requires trusting the Suzuki teacher to guide them through. As we Suzuki teachers all know, learning how to focus on a troublesome spot precisely and specifically is an invaluable practicing technique. In this situation, it is a true life example of creating a “dissonance” in this student’s lesson. However, with patience and guidance from the teacher, the student can resolve their discomfort by trusting the teaching and thus achieve a key learning moment. We often describe this as a successful moment, and for some, it can be a “lightbulb” moment, when a student discovers that something that was very difficult that has now been achieved. Overcoming these challenges and creating discomfort is something the teacher must strategically plan. Too much challenge can lead to discouragement, but the absence of any discomfort might deprive the student of key learning opportunities and self-discovery. Encouraging children to sometimes venture from a dissonant moment that requires hard work and many small steps that is then followed by a resolution, can lead to growth in self-esteem and confidence. While this happens in learning music, it also happens in adult life.
Dissonance in Adult Life
I attended a leadership training workshop held by the National Guild for Community Arts Education. One of our required reading pieces was Dr. Martin Luther King’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail.”1 In his writing, Dr. King is responding to admonishments by a group of Alabama clergy to stop his peaceful marches that were stirring up the political situation in Birmingham, Alabama, and throughout the South. He was told that meetings were being held between their African American leadership and elected officials to honor and uphold the rights of African Americans and that his demonstrations were antagonizing these officials and jeopardizing their talks. Dr. King’s response was that these peaceful marches were necessary to create pressure so that the officials would make their decisions and take action. Like the tides that have to flow in a certain direction, or like musical dissonance that must seek its resolution, their peaceful marches were meant to create tension that could be released by new laws and actions that recognized the Black Americans’ rights. The absence of their demonstrations and the absence of this pressure would likely mean that no action would be taken.
This reading was used to describe another adult experience: the common necessity to have difficult conversations. These conversations can happen between colleagues or between supervisors and their direct reports. As with a child who must step outside of their comfort zone in order to learn a new musical skill and with people who hold peace marches in order to uphold their rights, we must learn to hold conversations in order to express differences of opinions and shape decisions that are not our own. This often puts us in positions of discomfort and stress—but it also allows us to experience and observe these tensions and move forward toward resolutions and learning.
Expect Dissonance in Teaching and Learning
In our Suzuki School of Newton, we have a team of Suzuki faculty who work at creating and building the Suzuki pyramid—students, teachers, parents, and peers—towards an inclusionary and nurturing community. We have the advantage of leaning on each other when working on events but also for pedagogy support and parent collaboration. While we often talk about the Suzuki student’s musical journey, we may not always recognize that teachers, too, have their own journey as Suzuki teachers and human beings. In discussions, we often talk about the occurrence of situations that will require a difficult conversation with the parent. It is so easy for Suzuki teachers to show empathy for a struggling student, but sometimes harder to show this same empathy to the struggling parent. Sometimes teachers themselves are struggling with work/life balance, and the demands of teaching can make patience and understanding in low supply. Often, the default solution is avoidance. I strongly believe that some delay in having difficult conversations is useful in reflecting and analyzing points of view. The nature of avoidance is similar to our hesitation in creating dissonance. If we teachers can tell ourselves that creating dissonance and having difficult conversations can lead to moving forward—not only in removing the dissonance, but also in actually creating growth and learning—we can welcome and accept these dissonances as opportunities. That is, we can learn how to handle these difficult conversations either in the workplace, in the teaching studio, or in any human relationship.
At the same National Guild leadership institute where we discussed Dr. King’s Letter, we learned about the Ladder of Inference and worked through difficult conversations. In order to have these difficult conversations, it is helpful to write down one’s own feelings in a chart with four columns. Perhaps reconstructing the situation that occurred with the conversations and the steps that led to the conflict go in the first column. In the second column, write down one’s own thoughts or unspoken words and feelings. In the third column, imagine what the person with whom you must have this discussion might have said and thought during each step. In the fourth column, write down a better way the situation might have unfolded by providing information or asking questions rather than criticizing or even making accusations. In this column, it might also be helpful to note what reaction or better outcome would have resulted by using an inquiry-led conversation with an emphasis on listening.
As in any new skill and new teaching point that we use in the Suzuki pedagogy, we need to work step by step at difficult conversations. This takes practice and repetition! We only get better at a new skill by using it. Most of all, however, the presence of dissonance in our lives can truly help us to grow as people and as Suzuki teachers. People say they would like to live in harmony with their neighbors and with the environment. But as we see in music, harmony includes dissonance, the kind of tension that can move us forward.
Further Reading
Dickerson, Craig. “Ladder of Inference: Building Self-Awareness to be Better Human-centered Leader” Leading the Way (blog), May 9, 2024. https://www.harvardbusiness
.org/the-ladder-of-inference-building-self-awareness-to
-be-a-better-human-centered-leader/

King, Martin Luther, Jr. “Letter from a Birmingham Jail.” https://www.nlnrac.org/american/american-civil
-rights-movements/primary-source-documents/letter
-from-a-birmingham-jail.html.
Stone, Douglas, Bruce Patton and Sheila Heen. Difficult Conversations. Penguin Books, 2010.