- I find above all that the expression, 'atonal music,' is most unfortunate--it is on a par with calling flying 'the art of not falling,' or swimming 'the art of not drowning.' Arnold Schoenberg, Style and Idea, p.210
If you do, you're not alone; many people who have some understanding of what "tonality" means don't seem to feel very warm and fuzzy about the concept of atonality.
But, strictly speaking, all that is meant by the word is that the music in question is not based on tonality. It doesn't really tell us anything about what the music is based on.
A quick primer on tonality, from Wikipedia:
- Tonality is a system of music in which specific hierarchical pitch relationships are based on a key "center" or tonic. The term tonalité originated with Alexandre-Étienne Choron (1810) and was borrowed by François-Joseph Fétis in 1840 (Reti, 1958; Simms 1975, 119; Judd, 1998; Dahlhaus 1990). Although Fétis used it as a general term for a system of musical organization and spoke of "types de tonalités" rather than a single system, today the term is most often used to refer to Major-Minor tonality (also called diatonic tonality, common practice tonality, or functional tonality), the system of musical organization of the common practice period, and of Western-influenced popular music throughout much of the world today. [Emphasis mine.]
It could refer to music that is as deeply moving and beautiful as any music ever composed, or it could be applied to very harsh, disturbing music.
"Atonal" doesn't necessarily equate with "highly dissonant" any more than "tonal" automatically means "consonant." Dissonance and consonance are essential aspects of tonality, but they are essential aspects of much atonal music as well.
Explore the various sonorities that can be created by the scales and modes that you created for our first project of the semester. There is no ban on the use of major or minor triads; I am hoping that your scales will lead you to discover other sonorities that you like and feel can be used in your compositions, and if some of the sonorities happen to be major or minor, so be it! No problem!
But just try to use them in ways that go beyond their use in the context of tonality.
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11 comments:
This entry has helped me move on in my piece. I think I'm creating a barrier in my mind that says "clashy, crunchy, highly dissonant or nothing."
Thank you for this post - it has changed my thinking already.
I think we as musicians need to listen to new music WAY more to understand it. There are some amazing pieces out there that aren't "tonal" and are SO captivating. You can make some very beautiful chords that tonality tends to sweep under the rug and label "bad" chords because they wouldn't fit within the tonal contraints. But i mean, take away tonality and you can play these beautiful sonorities as you please!
I agree with Kim - we need to listen to more new music. I haven't listened to or played much 'new' music, but since taking composition last term, and now being in the contemporary improv. ensemble, I'm growing more and more fond of it and want to understand and learn more about new music.
I never knew how fun it would be to write atonal music until last term, and I'm really excited to be starting this new project.
Now I no longer hold that sort of negative connotation towards atonal music, and I've realized that it can be just as beautiful as Brahms and Mozart.
I'm glad that I've been forced out of my 'tonal' shell - thanks!!
Well said, all around. It's unfortunate that so much atonal music that we're exposed to (at least in my experience) forces us to equate it with noise. Just as you'll find music from other centuries that you don't like, so will you with new music. Atonal doesn't just refer to Schoenberg and his ilk--just as tonal doesn't refer specifically to Beethoven.
I'm curious to see what will become of new music in the years to come. Certainly there were great masters of the past who weren't entirely accepted in their time, but grew to be appreciated. I think time will ultimately show us what was a passing fad and what's here to stay.
At first when I was somewhat of an ignorant music student I equated atonality with randomness. Atonal music isn't random at all! It can actually be quite coherent.
Atonality doesn't scare me or make me uncomfortable anymore. I quite like it - or at least what I've been exposed to.
Everyone is making very thoughtful comments, which is great! In fact, your comments have given me ideas for further blog entries, one of which I may start today...
I found that most of the atonal music I had listened to in the past was fairly dissonant and in general, harder to listen to than tonal music, but since last term where we were given the task of writing an atonal piece, my opinion has changed, even without listening to more atonal music- though I'm definately going to be doing this as well in order to get some more ideas. Maybe people who don't like atonal music should actually try writing it- they'd probably be surprised by how easy it is to come up with something that they actually like.
I believe that just being born in our generation, the "baby boom echo," we are nurtured to have negative feelings for 'atonal' or contemporary music.
I can't remember who talked to me about this, but I was attending a lecture and the lecturer talked about how the goal of most post-war music was to be 'weird' and 'unique'. The epicentre of these goals was works that involved sitting at a piano and not playing for four and a half minutes or coming on stage and feeding a piano a bale of hay. It's hard, I find, to not have a negative generalization of post-war contemporary music with figureheads such as John Cage or Le Monte Younge. These 'rotten apples' spoiled the barrel of post-war contemporary music for us. In our musical upbringing, many of us had to play the music of the baroque, classical and romantic eras, as well as once in a while a modern piece in the back of a RCM book that was probably by a Canadian composer that I will boldly say, probably not many of us enjoyed.
So, in my mind, this is why myself, and many of my peers, have a negative understanding of 'contemporary' music.
Neatly though, this lecturer, said that myself and my peers would react to the postwar era by running the other way in our music, to create music that shows the beauty of extended-harmony in tonal world and staunch, lush chromaticism in lyricism. I know this is how I feel, and a few close peers of mine do as well.
So what am I trying to say? I don't know. I think it is ovbious that many of us have a negative imagine of 'atonal' or modern music. How does one change this? I don't know.
From a listeners perspective most people consider atonal music to be noise and randomness. To try and change opinions about this form of music I think more people need to experience it from the perspective a composer. Being able to see and hear what can be accomplished in the realm of atonality opens the door to many possibilities. This was very obvious after last semesters composition class. Many of us were reluctant at first but after the first assignment I know everyone seemed to warm up to the idea of atonality, it really made a difference!
I'm a good couple weeks behind commenting on this post, but I think it gives me a different perspective. By writting atonaly and learning more about that kind of music in class, I sincerly see how viable atonal music is. The very idea of dissonance and atonality meaning the same thing seems silly to me now. A month ago, I never would of said that I liked an atonal piece. But know, after listening to some of Debussy's piano preludes, I'm a changed man.
I think for me I had to treat atonality as just another normal part of music. When I think of it as a seperate entity it seems hideoous and impossible to compose anything nice within it. But when I look at an atonal chord as just being another tool for music it seems more approachable and I find it easier to work with that way.
Mind over matter?
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