Unity
At the heart of just about every general education program is a humanities class. Almost every college student takes one, and it was my turn two years ago. As its name implies, humanities classes help us understand what it is to be human – human intellect, artistic creativity, and the record of human experiences as seen in the arts. It was one of my favorite classes in my educational journey. One of our first lessons was about music – specifically harmony. A quick review for those who may not have had a music theory class recently: harmony, in short, is playing or singing more than one pitch simultaneously. Groups like Pentatonix, The Nylons, or BYU’s Vocal Point come to mind. When we think of harmony in music, we usually associate it with what is known as consonant harmony – stable and pleasant. There is also a different kind of harmony known as dissonant harmony - when the notes can sound harsh and unpleasant and feel very unstable. Think about the music accompanying the showe...