Yes its that word. What on earth does it mean? Basically it can be used to describe a piece of music that is not based on western harmonic tonality. It is with out "tonality". If you listen to one of these pieces your first reaction might be, "what on EARTH is this? It just sounds like a jumble of notes." To one degree you are correct, but if that is all you think A-tonal pieces measure(no pun intended) up to be, then you are missing the whole point.
Lets start with the pioneers:
a-tonality has always been around, recall listening to any song or piece of music that at a certain chord you wince with its jarring dissonance, and breath out a sigh as it resolves to a more pleasing chord. The difference between a tonality and tonal piece is that, dissonances are not viewed in the same manner as one would in a tonal piece. Dissonances are seen more as colors and textures. In fact, many composers wrote pieces so that instead of a home key of say D major, the key would be D diminished, with the d diminished chord having the same importance as a d major chord.
Additionally, A-tonal pieces are created to specifically sound nothing like Tonal pieces, A-tonality arose as a result of post WWII composers and artists attempting to understand the horrors of the war. It was an attempt to logically organize and modify music so that it would reflect movements in society. The push to rationalize and comprehend the evil of which humans were capable.
One of the leaders of this movement was a student of the great Shoenburg, Anton Webern. Building upon his master's development of the 12 tone series, he composed his pieces with careful attention to orchestral textures.
His Symphony op. 21 written in 1927. Uses the form of a Baroque suite, yet as you will find, sounds
nothing like a conventional suite. It sounds...like its from Mars or something.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qUQT2uKJoTM&feature=related
There are sooo many composers that write A-tonal music, so I'm not even going to try and go explain everything about all of them, cause I don't even know. But if for some reason you want to know more just email me or something and I'll do my best.
some composers to check out
Charles Ives(born in connecticut!)
George Crumb Black Angles(13 images from the dark land)
Stockhousen Song of the young boy
ex: this song was one of the first electronically enhanced pieces. try not to laugh at the snyth noises back in the day these were state of the art. it took two whole years to do this.
all this is leading up to the this point:
SONATA FOR STRING BASS AND PIANO
you might not know this, but I am in a free improve group called The Rose Quintet. The only one at Uconn, we have been playing together for nearly three years and have put on 5 shows. anyway, this pieces was written by our pianist and we will be giving the premier performance at my recital
MARCH 28!!! so its a lot like the above pieces and will blow your mind.
THE END
