or ‘someone running away from a
monster in the forest’. The frightful
effect of this chord was familiar as
far back as Johann Sebastian Bach.
In St. Matthew’s Passion, he used
this harmony at the very moving
moment when Pontius Pilate asked
the crowd who should be released,
Jesus or the criminal Barrabas, and
the crowd screams, ‘Barrabas!’. The
same chord can be heard at the
word “tears” in Stevie Wonder’s
song ‘Joy Inside My Tears’. When
the chord is played quietly, a spirit
of melancholy brooding is evoked.
The diminished seventh
chord communicates
fright and despair
The diminished seventh chord is
a solid device for creating a feeling
of fright in listeners. Tense scenes
of horror in movies are heightened with diminished sevenths,
and this happens frequently in
scores. When children were asked
what this chord made them think
of, they responded with answers
such as ‘something horrible’, ‘somebody having a nervous breakdown’
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The diminished seventh chord
When you play a diminished seventh quietly,
it is reminiscent of melancholy brooding. If it
is played at a louder volume, it is can be used
to underscore the scenes in horror movies in
which shocking things occur.