suspended chords

[Justin Ignaz Franz Bieber]

What are suspended (sus2 etc) chords for? What am I "supposed" to feel when I hear them? They seem to have a kind of 'airy' feel but there must be a better explanation.

[johnQpublic]

Suspensions are dissonant notes embedded in a chord that should resolve down by step. The dissonant note is usually substituting for a chord tone member. There should be a sense of tension needing imminent relaxation.

How you hear it is up to you and you alone. 

[Bonehelm]

suspended chords usually create a "hanging" feeling, you will feel that the musical phrase is like asking a question without giving you an answer. The resolution gives you the answer later on.

[Grazioso]

Suspensions are dissonant notes embedded in a chord that should resolve down by step. The dissonant note is usually substituting for a chord tone member. There should be a sense of tension needing imminent relaxation.

How you hear it is up to you and you alone. 

No, suspended chords leave out the third scale tone and replace it with a second or fourth. A sus2 chord, for example, includes the 1st, 2nd, and 5th. Leaving out the 3rd--the note that creates the major or minor sound of a chord--creates that open quality. (You hear the same thing in power "chords" so common to rock music, which include just the 1st and 5th and are therefore neither major nor minor.)

[lukeottevanger]

To step in and clarify before argument ensues - suspended chords, that is chords given the designation 'sus' in e.g. guitar tab parts  - are what the last post is describing. Suspensions in the classical sense are what JQP is describing. The two are closely related, as the chord implied by the indication 'sus' will be one which could also, in classical music, come under the heading 'suspension'. However, the harmonic context and treatment of the two differs, as therefore does their effect on the listener:

In rock, jazz etc. etc. a 'sus' chord is often, though far from always, treated as simply a sound in its own right, i.e. not as part of a functional and directed sequence of chords. This sort of usage concentrates on the sound of the chord itself rather than on its directional implications, which gives the chord that 'airy' feel that the question asked about, and is the sort of chord that Grazioso was describing. To be a little more technical, both sus 2 and sus 4 chords are in essence piled up fourths or fifths (sus 2 on C would contain the fourth/fifth chord CGD; sus 4 the fourth/fifth chord FCG) and it is this open fourths/fifths quality that this use of the chord exploits. Note in this context that much jazz/rock uses quartal harmony without treating it as a classical dissonance*. Listened to a certain way, these sus chords can certainly be heard as requiring resolution in the classical sense, but the style of the music does not force it upon us.

In Classical music (and also in lots of rock etc) a suspended chord is formed by a kind of hiatus or disruption between more consonant chords when a note consonant to one chord is held over into another, in which it is dissonant, before being resolved. Clearly, here, it is the directional tension-resolution aspect of the dissonance that is being exploited. So, for instance, that same C sus 2 chord which may have a stable 'open' fifths sonority in a piece of rock music becomes an unstable, tension-filled step on the way to e.g. a G major triad in a piece of Classical music - the dissonance between C and D in the CDG chord would need to be resolved to e.g. BDG. Suspensions and their relations are a basic mainstay of classical music - the dissonances that put the spice into what would otherwise be sequences of simple triads. You can hear them absolutely everywhere, but two good places to hear long sequences of them strung together for sensuous effect would be the opening of the Pergolesi Stabat Mater, or 'Duo Seraphim' from the Monteverdi Vespers, or indeed many countless expressive slow movements of the era between these two pieces.

The real point here is that this issue indicates that there is no such thing as 'one way' to hear a chord, and that the way we experience harmony depends on context. In this case, that context is the basic type of harmonic motion the piece is working within (classically directed or less so, in this case). Usually, though, this type of issue  - how we can hear the same chord as having a different degree of dissonance - is covered in discussions of highly chromatic or atonal music, in which a chord dissonant in earlier music is heard as consonant in later music, because of its new context; jazz includes many similar examples. And of course the history of music itself reveals how intervals dissonant to one age became accepted as, to some degree or other, more consonant in later ages, though this is a slightly different issue. Even tuning systems can function in this way - to most ears non equal temperament is simply 'out of tune'; but to ears accustomed to just temperament (etc.) used in an appropriate context equal temperament is empty if not unpleasant when used in that context.

* speculating here, but is it possible that the use of sus chords (= open fourth chords) as a 'relaxed' self-sufficient sonority rather than a directed classical one is related to or has a genesis in the 'relaxed' open strings of a guitar, with their prominent fourths? In certain types of rock music/certain styles of guitar playing, I wouldn't be surprised if that isn't so, but I may well be wrong...

[Justin Ignaz Franz Bieber]

In rock, jazz etc. etc. a 'sus' chord is often, though far from always, treated as simply a sound in its own right, i.e. not as part of a functional and directed sequence of chords. This sort of usage concentrates on the sound of the chord itself rather than on its directional implications, which gives the chord that 'airy' feel that the question asked about, and is the sort of chord that Grazioso was describing. To be a little more technical, both sus 2 and sus 4 chords are in essence piled up fourths or fifths (sus 2 on C would contain the fourth/fifth chord CGD; sus 4 the fourth/fifth chord FCG) and it is this open fourths/fifths quality that this use of the chord exploits. Note in this context that much jazz/rock uses quartal harmony without treating it as a classical dissonance*. Listened to a certain way, these sus chords can certainly be heard as requiring resolution in the classical sense, but the style of the music does not force it upon us.

that's what I thought when i read the thing about dissonance. it sounds a bit like it needs resolution, but it's not nearly as "urgent" as with a 7th chord.

In Classical music (and also in lots of rock etc) a suspended chord is formed by a kind of hiatus or disruption between more consonant chords when a note consonant to one chord is held over into another, in which it is dissonant, before being resolved. Clearly, here, it is the directional tension-resolution aspect of the dissonance that is being exploited. So, for instance, that same C sus 2 chord which may have a stable 'open' fifths sonority in a piece of rock music becomes an unstable, tension-filled step on the way to e.g. a G major triad in a piece of Classical music - the dissonance between C and D in the CDG chord would need to be resolved to e.g. BDG. Suspensions and their relations are a basic mainstay of classical music - the dissonances that put the spice into what would otherwise be sequences of simple triads. You can hear them absolutely everywhere, but two good places to hear long sequences of them strung together for sensuous effect would be the opening of the Pergolesi Stabat Mater, or 'Duo Seraphim' from the Monteverdi Vespers, or indeed many countless expressive slow movements of the era between these two pieces.

palestrina's pope marcellus mass is what got me thinking of this thread. i've been trying to figure out why I like it so much & I noticed that in a lot of the my favourite parts there are a lot of Csus2 chords (unless I'm wrong - I'm no specialist). That would be the christe (which has lots of 6th chords too) & sanctus, especially up to the pleni sunt coeli. In the sanctus he starts out in C major then goes to Csus2, back to C major, Csus2 and seems to gradually get "farther" away from C, and for longer periods also, going mostly to F & G (IV & V) but also D & E. at the end of the first part he finally goes back to C major after F, D, G, C (for only 1/2 bar), Csus2, D, G, E (for 1/2 bar) then finally "home" to C major & I think ahhhhhhhhh yesssssssss lol . I think the way palestrina makes his music sound so 'cool' & effortless is the way he uses those suspended chords, which don't create quite as much tension as other ones. the tension/resolution in other works like mozart's requiem is crude & obvious, with palestrina it's more subtle.

[techniquest]

The sunset section in Strauss Alpine Symphony (the section after 'the storm') is awash with suspended chords. Marvelous how it all works so well.

[12tone.]

I don't know what a suspended chord is.

Can someone here give me an instant in an orchestral / chamber piece?  (used in rough time as in 'listen to x symphony, roughly 5:35 in).

[Justin Ignaz Franz Bieber]

I don't know what a suspended chord is.

the usual major chord has a major 3rd & the fifth, a suspended chord has a major 2nd instead of the major 3rd. i think that's all there is to it but i've never really studied music. the sanctus I referred to before is here:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/music/wma-pop-up/B000059GLW001006/ref=mu_sam_wma_001_006/002-2676169-1063200
I think there are suspended chords (CDG) in the 2nd, 4th & 6th bars, or from 0:04-0:08, 0:12-0:14, 0:20-0:24 & 0:34-0:36 in that clip but like I say I'm no expert. Other people could probably think up better examples.

[KevinP]

Someone correct me if I'm wrong. In classical music, suspensions are a kind of non-harmonic tone, where the 2nd or 4th are introduced before resolving to the third. The term 'suspensed chord' is more pop music terminology.

Is there truth to that or is an overgeneralisation or just outright wrong?

[bwv 1080]

Someone correct me if I'm wrong. In classical music, suspensions are a kind of non-harmonic tone, where the 2nd or 4th are introduced before resolving to the third. The term 'suspensed chord' is more pop music terminology.

Is there truth to that or is an overgeneralisation or just outright wrong?

Basically right.  In classical terminology a suspension is a non-harmonic tone that is approached in unison (i.e. the "dissonant note is a chord tone of the harmony the precedes the suspension) and resolves down by step.  A suspension in classical terms does not necessarily have to be a 2nd or 4th, but the 4th is the most common.