At 8:42 PM 11/15/02, Christopher BJ Smith wrote:

I also have wondered for a long time about the word "atonal." I can't
figure out any meaningful definition for it that includes how the
listener would hear it, which I would have to try to take into
 >consideration.

Atonal music is listened to exactly as other music, because it works in the same way, through an artful manipulation of the tension between expectation and surprise. Here's a definition:

Atonal: [of music]: characterized by the absence (even implied) of triads or clearly audible diatonic scales.

Notice that this says nothing about a "harmonic center."

--
Andrew Stiller
Kallisti Music Press

http://www.kallistimusic.com

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