Music today has come to be an integral part of our lives and because of it’s indispensable nature right now, a lot has to be considered when music is involved and that’s where the aspect of consistency in music comes in. Talking of consistency in music, it’s a broad aspect of music but here I would try to talk about it in lay man’s language so that even the simplest of persons who is not really musically inclined that understand what consistency in music talk about and its roles.
In simple definition, consistency in music is the at part of music that makes a music to be polished, cohesive and enjoyable to the listeners.
Polished here refers to that things that has to to do with music being well crafted and refined, there’s a detailed attention given to the music that makes it well produced. When a music is polished, we are looking at a music that is well worked together and their is a smooth transition and blending of all the elements of the music such as the rhythm, melody and harmony. It’s that thing that makes the listener know that the music was produced with attention and care. When a music is polished, it makes the music resonates with the listeners emotions, its easy to understand and followed and above all very enjoyable.
A consistent music is cohesive. By being cohesive it means that there is a harmony between the different elements of the music, working together to give the perfect music blend. This blend makes the music come off as a piece that’s well integrated into a singlular piece. There ia a good sense of continuity as the music flows from one section to the other logically unlike when it’s scattered and disintegrated into unharmonious parts. A music that is cohesive would be captivating and engage the listeners attention, impact the emotions and would be easy to flow with. Cohesion in music can be achieved when the motifs or themes of the music is repeated, when there is a consistent use of the harmonies or rhythms and when a clear structure is created. Cohesion in music is like that glue that holds the music together.
So you see that consistency is foundational in music. When we talk about the role of consistency in music we would be considering key areas;
When the rhythm and timing of a music is consistent, it gives the music a unique flow and structure. The use of harmonic progressions helps to give a song its identity. When the dynamics and the tempo of the song is consistent, it helps to elevate the emotional impact of the music just like how the repetition of the melody patterns helps to create unity. Consistency on the parts of the lyrics helps to drive home the message of the artist and the sound of the artist is defined when there is consistency in the genre and style of the music. In the area of quality of the production, consistency is also involved as it helps to enhance the overall sound of the song or music.
In general consistency in music helps up musical expectation and anticipation, builds musical tension and release, enhances human emotional relationships with the songs, helps to support the identity of the musical artists and contributes to the general cohesiveness of the song or album.