Musical Tension Curves and its Applications

We suggest a graphical representation of the musical tension flow in tonal music using a piecewise parametric curve, which is a function of time illustrating the changing degree of ten-sion in a corresponding chord progression. The tension curve can be edited by using conventional curve editing techniques to reharmonize the original music with reflecting the user’s demand to control the tension of music. We introduce three different methods to measure the tension of a chord in terms of a specific key, which can be used to represent the tension of the chord numerically. Then, by interpolating the series of numerical tension values, a tension curve is constructed. In this paper, we show the tension curve editing method can be effectively used in several interesting applications: enhanc-ing or weakening the overall feeling of tension in a whole song, the local control of tension in a specific region of music, the progressive transition of tension flow from source to tar-get chord progressions, and natural connection of two songs with maintaining the smoothness of the tension flow.