tonality

Home > ... > Literature and the Arts > Performing Arts > Music: Theory, Forms, and Instruments > ...

Essential reading Compare
side-by-side The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Music The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition

tonality

tonality , in music, quality by which all tones of a composition are heard in relation to a central tone called the keynote or tonic. In music that has harmony the terms key and tonality are practically synonymous, embracing a hierarchy of constituent chords, and a hierarchy of related keys. Some relationship to a tonic is characteristic of all music except that in which it is deliberately avoided (see atonality and serial music ). The term tonality is also used in contrast to modality (see mode ).

Create a link to this page

Copy and paste this link tag into your Web page or blog:

<a href="http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/.aspx#1E1-tonality" title="Facts and information about tonality">tonality</a>

Give this article a thumbs-up on StumbleUpon

Cite this article
Pick a style below, and copy the text for your bibliography.

MLA
Chicago
APA

"tonality." The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2008. Encyclopedia.com. 16 Nov. 2009 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

"tonality." The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2008. Encyclopedia.com. (November 16, 2009). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-tonality.html

"tonality." The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2008. Retrieved November 16, 2009 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-tonality.html

Learn more about citation styles

tonality

The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Music | 1996 | | Â© The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Music 1996, originally published by Oxford University Press 1996. (Hide copyright information) Copyright

tonality. Key, meaning particularly observance of a single tonic key as basis of comp., thus, bitonality, use of 2 keys at once; polytonality, use of several keys at once; atonality, loyalty to no key.

Create a link to this page

Copy and paste this link tag into your Web page or blog:

<a href="http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/.aspx#1O76-tonality" title="Facts and information about tonality">tonality</a>

Cite this article
Pick a style below, and copy the text for your bibliography.

MLA
Chicago
APA

MICHAEL KENNEDY and JOYCE BOURNE. "tonality." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Music. 1996. Encyclopedia.com. 16 Nov. 2009 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

MICHAEL KENNEDY and JOYCE BOURNE. "tonality." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Music. 1996. Encyclopedia.com. (November 16, 2009). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O76-tonality.html

MICHAEL KENNEDY and JOYCE BOURNE. "tonality." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Music. 1996. Retrieved November 16, 2009 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O76-tonality.html

Learn more about citation styles

Related entries from encyclopedias, dictionaries and thesauruses

Rate these entries|See all related entries

Free newspaper and magazine articles

	An interview with Ross Lee Finney.(Interview) Magazine article from: American Music Teacher; 12/1/2004
	Methods of American printmaking, 1830s to 1930s. Magazine article from: The Magazine Antiques; 2/1/1999
	When Music Resists Meaning: the Major Writings of Herbert Brun.(Book Review) Magazine article from: American Music Teacher; 10/1/2004

Facts and information from other sites

Related articles from newspapers, magazines, and more

	Tonality and paranoia: a reply to Boros. (response to article by James Boros in Contemporary Music Review, vol. 6, p. 1) Magazine article from: Perspectives of New Music; 1/1/1996; ; 700+ words ; ...1) which denounces the "New Tonality" issue of Contemporary Music Review...Regional Editor," which begins the "New Tonality" issue of CMR: The regional editorial...issue, the postmodern resurgence of tonality, is a case at hand, for it is something...
	Getting outside the tonality while staying inside the melody [Keyboard technique, part II] Magazine article from: Canadian Musician; 1/1/2000; ; 700+ words ; ...dissonant note or passage to re-establish the tonality and/or foreshadow another trip outside the tonality. By exaggerating the familiar elements...accompaniment you might venture outside the tonality by using substitutions, i.e. four or...
	Tonality as drama; closure and interruption in four twentieth-century American operas.(Brief article)(Book review) Magazine article from: Reference & Research Book News; 2/1/2009; 483 words ; 9781574412499 Tonality as drama; closure and interruption...operas to understand why the use of tonality continued while composers of other genres...s The Tender Land, and argues that tonality was used for dramatic effect. ([c...
	Explaining Tonality: Schenkerian Theory and Beyond.(Book review) Magazine article from: Notes; 9/1/2006; ; 700+ words ; Explaining Tonality: Schenkerian Theory and Beyond. By...for music theorists: does functional tonality emerge from the characteristics of scales, or do scales result from functional tonality? Schenker believed the latter, and...
	The Second Practice of Nineteenth-Century Tonality. Magazine article from: Notes; 9/1/1997; ; 700+ words ; ...The Second Practice of Nineteenth- Century Tonality, William Kinderman and Harald Krebs have put...varied group of compositions are ambiguous tonality, tonal pairing, directional tonality, and the substitution, fusion, or interlocking...
	Getting outside the tonality while staying inside the melody [Keyboard technique: part I] Magazine article from: Canadian Musician; 11/1/1999; ; 700+ words ; ...progression. Stepping slightly outside of the tonality in the melody makes for a more unique...prominent in the tune, when you do leave the tonality it seems as if you haven't or that...that is familiar, reestablishing the tonality, but keeping the movement relatively...
	[A] Tonalities vinyl enhanced tile flooring combines the original, more natural look of an earlier era with today's most recent technological assets.(Tools of the Trade) Magazine article from: Buildings; 5/1/2006; 400 words ; [A] Tonalities vinyl enhanced tile flooring combines the original, more natural look...a healthy dose of color and style, with 16 colors to choose from. Tonalities vinyl enhanced tile flooring by LG Floors/Distributed by Innovision...
	Towards tonality; aspects of Baroque music theory.(Brief article)(Book review) Magazine article from: Reference & Research Book News; 8/1/2008; 532 words ; 9789058675873 Towards tonality; aspects of Baroque music theory. Ed. by Peter Dejans. Leuven...and Petronio Franceschini in the context of the transition towards tonality from the Renaissance to the Baroque Period. Others address the...
	LG Floors' new Tonalities tiles use through-color chip designs.(Resilient Gallery) Magazine article from: National Floor Trends; 6/1/2006; 343 words ; LG Floors introduces Tonalities vinyl enhanced tile flooring for commercial use. Tonalities is offered in 3mm gauge, 18" by 18" tiles featuring 16 through-color chip designs. The product is durable, wear-resistant and antibacterial, according...
	Legalities, Tonalities.(analysis of testimony from Monica Lewinsky regarding relationship with President)(Brief Article)(Column) Magazine article from: Newsweek; 9/28/1998; ; 700+ words ; ...pumpkin papers." The dress was Lewinsky's pumpkin paper. Clinton's fate will be determined not only by legalities but by tonalities--by the depth of the country's embarrassment and uneasiness about having that man at the center of civic life. Hence...