Today in class we were asked questions such as “why does older music all start to sound the same to us?” and “why does contemporary music often connect with us more than old music?” An obvious answer to the second question is that contemporary music uses modern language, it is easier for us to understand and therefor easier for us to connect with. But an answer to both of these questions that I was actually very surprised to hear was the use of dissonance. Dissonance, when it comes to music, is something that usually holds a more negative connotation, but as it turns out it is actually a vital component of music, especially modern music. Old music sounds boring to us because of the lack of dissonance. Composers and musical creation in general used to completely avoid it. Dissonance was not something that was considered acceptable. This is one reason why old music often just sounds all the same. Today dissonance is something that we hear in music every day. Dissonance is often one of the components of a piece of music that emphasizes the emotion and drama, which are two things that give us strong connection to music.