The meaning of ATONAL is marked by avoidance of traditional musical tonality; especially : organized without reference to key or tonal center and using the tones of the chromatic scale …

ATONAL definition: of, relating to, or marked by atonality. See examples of atonal used in a sentence.

An example of atonal music would be Arnold Schoenberg's "Pierrot Lunaire", which is a song cycle composed in 1912. The work uses a technique called "Sprechstimme" or spoken …

Despite the atonal and seemingly illogical melodic lines, the piece ends in a perfect cadence, giving it a sense of finality.

What is atonal music? Learn the difference between tonal and atonal music, the history behind it, and discover atonal music examples here.

Definition of atonal adjective in Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary. Meaning, pronunciation, picture, example sentences, grammar, usage notes, synonyms and more.

In practice, the atonality of a composition is relative, for an atonal work may contain fragmentary passages in which tonal centres seem to exist. Schoenberg’s song cycle Pierrot Lunaire …

atonal, adj. meanings, etymology, pronunciation and more in the Oxford English Dictionary

Atonal music is music that is not written or played in any key or system of scales. Collins COBUILD Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. Copyright © HarperCollins Publishers

However, "as a categorical label, 'atonal' generally means only that the piece is in the Western tradition and is not 'tonal'", although there are longer periods, e.g., medieval, renaissance, and …