Tension in music is a feeling of unrest, instability, excitement, or incompleteness and an anticipation of what may come next. It, along with the release, or sense of completeness, that follows, has long been an important factor in making Western music not just appealing, but often even thrilling, to audiences. Tension and its release is commonly employed not only at the end of a work but also frequently at the ends of some movements and even, to various extents, at many additional locations throughout the work.
A composer can create tension by various means, including through increasing the dynamic level, using certain chord progressions, reiteration, gradual motion to a higher or lower pitch, increasing the tempo, using ostinato, and employing syncopations between consonance and dissonance.