Atonal music

Atonality in its broadest sense describes music that lacks a tonal center, or key. Atonality in this sense usually describes compositions written from about 1908 to the present day where a hierarchy of pitches focusing on a single, central tone is not used and the notes of the chromatic scale function independently of one another (Anon. 1994). More narrowly, the term describes music that does not conform to the system of tonal hierarchies that ch... more
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