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diatonic |
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diatonic Music 1. of, relating to, or based upon any scale of five tones and two semitones produced by playing the white keys of a keyboard instrument, esp the natural major or minor scales forming the basis of the key system in Western music 2. not involving the sharpening or flattening of the notes of the major or minor scale nor the use of such notes as modified by accidentals How to thank TFD for its existence? Tell a friend about us, add a link to this page, add the site to iGoogle, or visit webmaster's page for free fun content. |
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It became customary to employ swifter rhythms, running figures, and diatonicism for joy, and slower rhythms, longer note values, and chromaticism for sorrow. The Random House Dictionary seems pretty sound, if a bit stuffy, on the subject, suggesting that after originating in New Orleans at the beginning of the twentieth century it developed "through various increasingly complex styles, generally marked by intricate, melodic freedom, and a harmonic idiom ranging from simple diatonicism through chromaticism to, in recent developments, atonality. |
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