Dear folks,
There seems to be a lot of confusion concerning the terms "tonality," "atonality," "tonal," and "modal." These words can have a number of meanings depending on context. When the question is tonal vs. atonal, a piece is tonal if one or more tonal centers can be perceived. When the question is tonal vs. modal, a piece is considered tonal if it adheres to the major/minor harmonic system.
Some of the best music can have a changing tonal focus. Bartok's music sometimes exhibits a strong tonal focus and sometimes the tonal focus is obscured or lacking. Much of Debussy's music is modal, but often it is difficult to decide on a tonal center. Most of us would not call the whole-tone sections of "Voiles" atonal or modal. In scales like the whole-tone, the nominal pentatonic, and the octatonic any one of the scale tones can be made to function as a tonal center.
There is in addition a problem with the word modal. Does it apply only to the so-called ecclesiastic modes (Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, Mixolydian, Aeolian, Locrian, and the church modes designated by number)? What about a scale such as C-D-E-F#-G-A-Bb or scales associated with North Indian ragas, Gamelan music, Klezmer music, The Blues, etc.? In the context of tonal vs. atonal, all of these, including the blues, are tonal. And one more thought: When we study scales, we often hear "the major mode" or "the minor mode." Brahms enjoys using "modal interchange" and "modal borrowing," and yet we consider his music tonal. No wonder our students get confused - not to mention we ourselves.
Ther term "functional harmony" is another enigma. Functional harmony for Bach is not the same as functional harmony for Monteverdi or for Wagner.
I think it is more important to talk about tonal focus and pitch collections, "degree inflection" and degree of chromatisicm in music rather than to use the inexact terms modal, tonal, and atonal. Remember that Schoenberg did not use the term atonal, preferring "pantonal" instead. The term "pandiatonic" is more easily defined then tonal or modal. However, when we studied modal music, my students liked to bandy around the term "quasimodal," ("hunchback scales?") ;-) They have their ways of getting back at us!
Hal -- Harold Owen 2830 Emerald St., Eugene, OR 97403 mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Visit my web site at: http://uoregon.edu/~hjowen FAX: (509) 461-3608 _______________________________________________ Finale mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
