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Tonality

Musical Terms
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

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The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

Tonality is the system of relationships organized around a central pitch or tonal center.

Detailed Definition
Tonality gives music a sense of orientation by making some pitches feel like home and others like departure, tension, or return. In poetry, the word can describe the dominant emotional or verbal atmosphere of a work: its prevailing warmth, severity, irony, intimacy, or grief. A tonal shift changes how familiar images are interpreted, while an unstable tonality may keep the poem from settling into one authoritative mood or worldview.
Example
Example in poetry:
A poem centered on C major, or on a recurring musical home note, uses tonality as an organizing principle; Repeating images of one place while briefly wandering into unfamiliar settings can make a poem feel tonally centered; A poem can create atonality by refusing a stable refrain, rhyme, or emotional home; Shifting from a bright tonal vocabulary to a darker one can suggest a change of key in the speaker’s mood
Additional Notes
Tonality organizes pitches around a central note or tonal center, such as the tonic in a major or minor key. It gives music a sense of departure, tension, and return; atonality resists this organizing center. In poetry, recurring images or sounds can similarly establish a tonal center for the poem.
Also Known As
Key System
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