atonal
Without tonic center
Atonal describes music that lacks a tonal center—no home key that the ear gravitates toward.
Traditional Western music establishes a key and returns to it; atonal music deliberately avoids this, treating all twelve notes as equally important.
The term emerged with early 20th-century composers like Schoenberg: The atonal passage left audiences unsettled.
Sometimes used loosely to describe any music that sounds dissonant or unresolved.
Lack of fixed outcome
- electroacousticInvolving amplified sound production
- FeldmanGermanic surname, agricultural origin
- microtonalUsing non-standard pitch intervals
- spectralGhostlike or wavelength-related
Lack of harmony
- cacophonyHarsh, clashing sounds
- discordLack of agreement
- clashViolent disagreement or collision
- harshnessUnsparing quality or manner
tension · unresolved · jarring · grating · chromatic · tritone · angular · disjunct
Fixed-sequence composition technique
- SchoenbergAtonal method inventor
- aggregateCombined sum total
- retrogradeMoving in reverse direction
- inversionReversal of position
Swapping positions of elements
- inversionReversal of position
- invarianceQuality of staying unchanged
- complementWhat makes complete
- subsetCollection within collection
indeterminacy
Lack of fixed outcome
- electroacousticInvolving amplified sound production
- FeldmanGermanic surname, agricultural origin
- microtonalUsing non-standard pitch intervals
dissonance
Lack of harmony
harshness · tension · unresolved · jarring · grating · chromatic · tritone · angular · disjunct · expressionist
serialism
Fixed-sequence composition technique
- SchoenbergAtonal method inventor
- aggregateCombined sum total
- retrogradeMoving in reverse direction
transposition
Swapping positions of elements
- inversionReversal of position
- invarianceQuality of staying unchanged
- complementWhat makes complete
- A- wordsamoral, apathy, atheist, atypical, asymmetric
- bad soundsoff-key, off-pitch, pitchy, sour note, dissonant
- music adjectivesmelodic, harmonic, rhythmic, tuneful, acoustic
- discorddiscord, Discord, dissonance, discordance, dissonant
- classical musicBach, Mozart, Beethoven, Chopin, Brahms
- music termsmelody, tempo, rhythm, harmony, beat
atonalmelodious
Agreeable in sound
harmonious · melodic · tuneful · euphonious · consonant
- Day of AtonementSolemn Jewish repentance observance
- atonement theologyDoctrine of reconciliation with God
- atonal musicMusic without key
atone, atonement, atoning, atoned, atoner, atones, atonality, atonements