Non-Tonal Music

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Tonality means different things to different people. Some people consider any music with a well-defined key center to be tonal. Others consider any music that uses conventional chords to be tonal. Historically, however, the term tonal has been reserved for music that not only shares the above characteristics, but in which the chords operate in a functional manner to reinforce the key center. Music that does not use chords in a functional manner in order to reinforce a tonal center is called non-tonal music. This type of music can take many forms. The names of these styles are not particularly well agreed upon, and the distinctions are not always clear, but this section describes some different types of non-tonal music.

Music that has what may seem to have a key center and that uses conventional chords, but in which the progression does not follow the conventions of functional harmony, is referred to as modal. Often, this means the tonal center, if any, is established through sheer repetition rather than through dominant to tonic resolution. The classic example of a modal jazz composition with an apparent key center is "So What" by Miles Davis:

[EXAMPLE]

This tune seems to be in the key of D minor, yet there is no chord progression to reinforce this, just a lot of D minor chords. The bridge contains the only other chord in the composition, Eb minor, which is not diatonic in the key of D minor, and which does not seem to serve any particular function except as temporary relief from the D minor. One could try to analyze it as a tritone substitution for the dominant, A7, but the chord does not sound like a dominant; if anything, it sounds like a key change. This is a characteristic of modal compositions - each chord suggests its own tonic.

Although the popular perception of a modal composition is one like "So What" that has very few chord changes, modal compositions may contain many chords, as long as they are not primarily functional in nature. For example, consider the following chord progression, to an original composition entitled "Shades Of Gray":

[EXAMPLE]

While the progression appears to resolve to a tonic of C, there are no ii-V-I progressions to reinforce this, save for the final G7alt - Csus. The remainder of the chords come from mostly unrelated keys, and do not resolve in any conventional fashion. The chords themselves are also relatively complex, even by jazz standards. This is another characteristic shared by many modal compositions.

Another type of harmony related to modal harmony is sometimes called pan-tonal, although this term is not in common use. In pan-tonal music, there may be points during the music at which clearly defined tonal centers seem to be established in relatively conventional ways, but the modulations are rapid, to unrelated keys, and no one key center predominates. Here is an example of a pan-tonal chord progression, from the composition "Four Winds" by Dave Holland:

[EXAMPLE]

The relationship between successive chords in pan-tonal music is not necessarily random. Tension and release can be controlled through the use of common tones between chords and their associated scales. For example, the progression from Fmaj7 to Em7 is smooth because they are both contained within the C major scale:

[EXAMPLE]

The progression from Fmaj7 to Dbmaj7 creates tension, because there are no scales that contain both chords, and scales containing Fmaj7 are relatively distant from scale containing Dbmaj7 on the circle of fifths:

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These chords do contain the note F in common, however. Even more extreme is the progression from Fmaj7 to Dbm7, in which there are no common tones:

[EXAMPLE]

Harmony is not always described by a linear progression of chords. The term polytonal is used to describe music that has more than one tonal center in effect at the same time:

[EXAMPLE]

Often, the terms pan-tonal and polytonal are applied to improvisation as opposed to chord progressions, to denote a performance in which a musician is free to choose a different key center at any time. Ornette Coleman is especially known for this style of improvisation, although he generally calls his theory "harmolodics". Here is an transcription of an Ornette Coleman solo, which was improvised without any preset chord progression but which nonetheless appears to outline several distinct tonalities:

[EXAMPLE]

Note that the other instruments in the group might be improvising different harmonies. In harmolodics, musicians often seem to play lines in which the same note in different parts serves a different function. For instance, the bassist and trumpet player might both play a C, but to the bassist, that is the root of a C major chord, while to the trumpet player, it is the third of an Ab major triad:

[EXAMPLE]

The term "harmolodics" has never really been defined by Ornette or anyone else; it seems he considers it to encompass some sort of unification of melody, harmony, and rhythm.

Finally, there is music that is atonal, which means the absence of a key center. In practice, this means the absence of conventional chords as well. Tonal areas, as opposed to centers, may be specified through cell notation or other means, or this may be left completely open. Here is an example of an atonal composition that uses cell notation to suggest appropriate note choices for improvisation:

[EXAMPLE]

Here is an example of an atonal composition that leaves the harmony completely unspecified:

[EXAMPLE]

One particular way of structuring atonal music that deserves special mention is serialism, also known as twelve-tone music. This system was developed by Arnold Schoenberg in the early part of the twentieth century. In serial music, the concept of melody and harmony is replaced by what is called a tone row. A tone row contains all twelve tones of the chromatic scale, arranged in a particular order that is unique to the composition. The tone row should not contain any sequence of notes that might suggest a tonal center, such as three notes in a row that outline a major triad. The entire composition is then based on the tone row. For example, here is a tone row:

[EXAMPLE]

It may be used to create linear structures, the serial equivalent of melodies:

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It may also be used to create vertical structures, the serial equivalent of harmonies:

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The tone row may be used in a number of variations, such as reverse, also known as retrograde:

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Another variation used in serial music is inversion, where each interval in the original tone row is turned upside down. For example, an ascending major third turns into a descending major third. Here is the original tone row inverted:

[EXAMPLE]

In serial music, one is supposed to be able to relate any note of a composition to the tone row in some way. Serial music is even more structured than ordinary tonal music. It is beyond the ability of most people to improvise within these boundaries. Nonetheless, tone rows are used sometimes by jazz composers to suggest material for improvisation, even if they do not expect a musician to stay completely within the boundaries of serial music.

Copyright 2000 Outside Shore Music
Authored by Marc Sabatella

Non-Tonal Music