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Atonality in its broadest sense is music that lacks a tonal center, or key. Atonality, in this sense, usually describes compositions written from about the early 20th-century to the present day, where a hierarchy of harmonies focusing on a single, central triad is not used, and the notes of the chromatic scale function independently of one another. [1]
Other theorists, such as Allen Forte, further developed the theory for analyzing atonal music, [3] drawing on the twelve-tone theory of Milton Babbitt. The concepts of musical set theory are very general and can be applied to tonal and atonal styles in any equal temperament tuning system, and to some extent more generally than that.
"All harmonic idioms in popular music are tonal, and none is without function." [4] [vague] Tonality is an organized system of tones (e.g., the tones of a major or minor scale) in which one tone (the tonic) becomes the central point for the remaining tones. The other tones in a tonal piece are all defined in terms of their relationship to the ...
The term tonic may be reserved exclusively for use in tonal contexts while tonal center or pitch center may be used in post-tonal and atonal music: "For purposes of non-tonal centric music, it might be a good idea to have the term 'tone center' refer to the more general class of which 'tonics' (or tone centers in tonal contexts) could be ...
Other composers with atonal pieces include Harrison Birtwistle & Peter Maxwell Davies, [54] Jacob Druckman, Barbara Kolb, [55] Henry Cowell, Claude Debussy, Brian Ferneyhough, [56] Alexander Goehr, [57] Lou Harrison, Mårten Hagström, Paul Hindemith, Karel Husa, Charles Ives, György Ligeti, Witold Lutosławski, George Perle, [58] Sergei Prokofiev, David Raksin, [59] Nikolai Roslavets, [60 ...
Resolution has a strong basis in tonal music, since atonal music generally contains a more constant level of dissonance and lacks a tonal center to which to resolve. The concept of "resolution", and the degree to which resolution is "expected", is contextual as to culture and historical period.
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Post-tonal music theory is the set of theories put forward to describe music written outside of, or 'after', the tonal system of the common practice period.It revolves around the idea of 'emancipating dissonance', that is, freeing the structure of music from the familiar harmonic patterns that are derived from natural overtones.