noun
- the absence of a tonal center or key in music; a compositional technique that avoids traditional harmonic progressions
Usage: music theory
Examples
- Schoenberg’s twelve-tone system was a method for organizing atonality.
- The composer’s use of atonality created a sense of unresolved tension.
- Many listeners find atonality challenging because it lacks familiar harmonic patterns.
- The piece demonstrated complete atonality with no discernible key center.
- Atonality became prominent in early 20th-century classical music.
- Students struggled to analyze the work due to its strict atonality.