The Tritone

Augmented

B5

Chords

Deny

Entities

From

Going

Heavenly

Into

Jehovah's

Keeping.

.

Languishing

Music,

Nuanced

Otherwordly,

Powerfully

Queer

Resonance,

Sounds

Tritonic

Under

Wiccan's

Xenial

Yearnings —

Zounds!

AUTHOR'S NOTE: B and F form a tritone in the key of C major, a triad from the root B, a major third (D#) and a perfect fifth (F#). It need not be from B, but can be constructed from several notes — for example, by widening a perfect fourth and narrowing a perfect fifth by one chromatic semitone.

I am not a musician, so some may want to weigh in on the above definition if I need correction. However, because of the tritone's natural discordant sound (as heard by the human ears), it is often used as a menacing warning in horror movies or a change to the ominous in music. It is called the "Devil's chord," or diabolus in musica, because of its dissonance. It is rumored that it may have even been banned by the Catholic Church in liturgical music in Medieval times, but this is apocryphal.

The word, "Zounds!" is a contraction of "God's Wounds" (the stigmata of Christ on the cross) and, as such, is used as a swear or oath of indignation or surprise.