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Atonal Music--The Most Daring and Provocative Development in the History of Music

D. Such

One of the most significant experiments or developments in the history of music occurs in the 20th century. The development centers around the idea of functional tonality in music. A tone in music usually refers to a musical pitch that is sounded by an instrument or voice. The concept of functional tonality differs by going one step further to describe how these tones function in relationship to one another. That is an important concept that underlies the entire history of western music. Think of functional tonality as relationships that musical tones share. In music this idea is huge--a backbone supporting the history of music going back to the early Greeks.

For instance, throughout the history of music, musicians and composers have used keys or scales to organize all the musical tones available. Remember, earlier in the course we said that in the western musical system we have 12 tones that we consider to be musical. However, those are too many to work with all at the same time. That is why musicians and composers utilized scales or keys to organize those tones into smaller, more manageable groups, such as the C major or D minor scales. Altogether, there are over 200 such scales or keys in current usage.

The best way to illustrate functional tonality is for you to play it on the piano (if you are a musician, any instrument will do). Yes, you can do it, and it is not that difficult or mystical!

Go to the following site and load the piano: http://www.thevirtualpiano.com/ Links to an external site.

Now you are looking at a piano keyboard. Play the following notes as evenly as possible. In other words, the distance in time or beats between the notes should be the same, not different in the sense that you are speeding up or slowing down. If you can play the following notes (they are all white notes) evenly enough in the proper sequence, you will immediately recognize the song:

E D C D E E E, D D D, E G G     E D C D E E E, D D E D _?
Phrase 1                                                      Phrase 2

Recognize the tune yet? If so, can you supply the last note, which I left blank with a question mark? Which note is missing?

If you came up with the note C as the answer, you have demonstrated probably the most important function of all having to do with the idea of functional tonality. What is it? In a typical song, one note stands out as being the most important, like a home or an anchor. In this case, the note C is the most important. The tune ends on that note. This tune is a little different in the sense that it does not start on the C. Instead, it starts on the E; whereas most tunes both start and end on the most important note.

First, can you tell which key or scale the above tune is in? Here is a clue. The most important note is C; hence, the tune is in the key of C major, which you may recall includes all the white notes C D E F G A B.

Second, let us now examine some of the tonal relationships in this song. Think of the note C as home. The tune starts away from home, but not too far away on the note E. Then it goes to the D and then to the C, but it does not stay there long. Eventually, the first phrase works its way up to the G where it lingers a bit. By lingering it gets emphasis and sticks in the listener's head. Recall what is the most consonant interval in music? It is the fifth. Count from the C up to the G. How many notes are there including the C and G. You should come up with five; hence, the distance from C to G is a fifth. So, it is very logical that the first phrase should end on the G, which is the second most important note in the scale. So, after leaving home, the listener has reached the destination.

Now the second phrase is about the return home. Look at it. It is similar to the first phrase in the sense that the first seven notes repeat. What makes the tune work are the last five notes, most of which repeat the note D. Why the note D? What is its function?

For the answer, go back to the virtual piano and play the notes C and D one after another. Listen and just absorb the sound. Then play both the C and D together. How do they sound? Dissonant or consonant? Most of you will say the combined tone sounds dissonant. That is because the C and D are so close together it confuses or clashes in the ear. This is almost a universal in all culture's musical systems.

So here is the function of the tone D in the key of C major. It sets up a feeling of dissonance because it clashes with the C. The notes are too close together. What has to happen to make this a happy nursery song is to resolve that dissonance by ending it on the C. It is like the listener has been on a long journey, wondering when home is coming. Finally, the D arrives just as the feint smell of a backyard barbecue reaches the nostrils. Anticipation increases, the C arrives, and the listener bites into a juicy wing, a happy ending.

To summarize the above, we can isolate the three most important notes of the tune and the functions for the notes C, G and D.

  1. The function of the C is to act as a home that shapes all the relationships of the other notes.
  2. The G is a consonant fifth above the C. It is similar to having reached one's destination, right before the return leg of the journey begins.
  3. The D adds interest and creates anticipation because the song has already established the C as the most important note. The listener may not be aware of it, but on the back burner of the mind, it is nonetheless there.


Getting Rid of Functional Tonality

Pop tunes and symphonies employ these same functions, making functional tonality one of the most important building blocks throughout the history of music. Now that you understand the concept, imagine music (if it can be called music) that lacks this most basic concept. This is what some composers began asking during the 20th century. Why? After World Wars I and II and after countless Europeans lost their homes, suffered, and died, composers dealt with the theme of homelessness, which they transferred to music. They got rid of the idea of functional tonality. Music that follows this approach is often called atonal music.

There are many compositional techniques for atonal music. For instance, some composers composed without clearly establishing a main note or home (homelessness manifested in music). Once that is removed, the relationships among the other notes become fluid, sometimes random, and having no discernible function or relationship. The music sounds disjointed and unpredictable, while offsetting all the normal expectations the listener generally brings to music listening. The listener feels alienated, just as one might feel after becoming homeless.

 

Listening Example

Listen to Arnold Arnold Schönberg's composition called Pierrot Lunaire (Full).

It is a setting of 21 selected poems from Otto Erich Hartleben's German translation of Albert Giraud's cycle of French poems of the same name. The première of the work, which is between 35 and 40 minutes in length, was at the Berlin Choralion-Saal on October 16, 1912, with Albertine Zehme as the vocalist. During the premier performance, some of the audience whistled and hooted in protest of the music.

Listen to at least a few minutes objectively, knowing that the uneasiness you may be feeling probably comes as a result of Schoenberg eliminating the tonal center. The music sounds random in spots and dissonant in others. Some listeners find a strange beauty in the music.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KsIATAaR-X0 Links to an external site.

 

Coming Full Circle in the Course

Needless, to say, getting rid of functional tonality provoked critics and listeners used to the age old conventions of music. However, proponents of the music liked it because it forces the listeners to hear and appreciate random sounds or tones more than the manipulation of musical tones into predictable patterns, which altogether betray too much of the human ego (which is not "natural"). That brings me back to John Cage. Remember him from the beginning of the course when we asked the question, What is music? Cage's answer was a performance of silence, whereby his composition for piano never produced a single note. The idea is that anything and everything, even the sounds in the physical environment around us, can be music, if a listener wants to call it that, especially if there is no human ego involved in writing it. Cage fits the idea of non existent functional tonality. The listener can listen to seemingly random notes (or random raindrops on a roof) of so-called music without having to interpret a story or series of functional relationships. It is about the sounds themselves, not the will and ego of a composer. Sometimes, that is the best way to hear music as one of many different ways.

This is where we get back into the philosophical realm of music. The class has turned full circle. With all the above in mind, I encourage you to be open minded about music. Someday, when there is a heavy rain, sit in a garage under a tin roof. Listen, expecting to hear music or rhythmic patterns. Maybe you will. If you do not, put those expectations aside and simply listen to the sound, its qualities, what it does, and how it behaves. In any case, be more aware of what enters your ears, whether it be words with precise meanings or sounds (one may call these music or not), which can be interpreted in any number of ways by the mind and emotions. There is no definition of music other than what you make it and how you enjoy it, but always take an enlightened approach to it. Try not to subordinate music to the background, but find something special in it that brings it to the forefront. It is one of those rare things we have to enrich life, make it into something more than the tedium of a day-to-day existence. So take advantage of that gift.

To have come this far in your understanding of music is a notable achievement, and it has been my pleasure to bring you to this point. Do not forget how you arrived here, and when you come back to these thoughts and reflect upon music in some of the ways that we have throughout the course, I hope your understanding and appreciation for music will grow.