Is tension always present?
I tension always present in a music? Sometimes I hear a simple acoustic song that has only two or three chords. What's more these chords are played in sequence: I -> ii -> I -> ii Is there any tension at all? It seems to be raising and being resolved just a second later.
Is there any tension at all? Is it required?
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You've defined the tension by labelling a chord as I. If you consider one chord to be the tonic, there's tension when away from it, resolution when returning to it.
I agree, current pop/rock is not all about dominant-tonic relationships in the way Common Practice music was. Non-functional meandering returned to mainstream music over 100 years ago. Lots of choices now!
Tension takes on many forms: In tonal music (most classical music and pop/rock) tension is created from moving away from the tonic and returning to it (like in your example), and as our ears is so used to this kind of music, we automatically attributes this kind of tension to most of what we hear - tonal or not. But many modern composers has tried to create other kind of tensions unrelated to the tonal music - e.g. Arnold Schoenberg.
Is tension required at all. Thats a really good question. It certainly plays a role in most music we know.
'It seems to be raising and being resolved...' The resolution comes after what? The tension! Maybe not a huge amount, but you noticed it yourself!
Most pieces of music will be 'in a key'. Resolution is often noticed at the points where the music settles on that key chord, or note/s that constitute it. That's when it could be a finish for that section. So, yes, pretty well all music will have that tension-resolution in some form or another, at some points along the way. For example, if a piece in C had several harmonies which culminated in, say, Dm> G> F...the listener would be expecting something to follow. If it just stopped there, it would be unresolved. If the next chord is G, then it's still unresolved, so there's still tension. It needs that C to appear to 'come back home', and then there's resolution.
Is it required? A big question. It depends on the mood the writer wants to provide. In a dreamy, sleep inducing piece, it would most likely sound out of place somewhat. In a stirring, or awe-inspiring piece, without tension, there's not going to be much stir or awe!
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