diatonic
/,daiə'tɔnik/
Học thuậtThân thiện
Definition
- Adjective:
- Relating to a standard musical scale: Describes music, scales, or intervals that are based on the natural notes of a major or minor scale, without using chromatic alterations (sharps or flats outside the key signature).
- Using only the tones of a given key: Pertaining to the seven pitches that form a major or minor scale, moving in whole steps and half steps according to a fixed pattern.
Examples of Usage
- Adjective:
- The melody is purely diatonic, using only notes from the C major scale.
- Early folk songs often have a simple, diatonic harmony.
- This passage contrasts a diatonic section with a more chromatic one.
Advanced Usage
"Diatonic harmony": Chords and progressions built exclusively from the notes of a given major or minor scale.
- The composer's early work is characterized by its use of simple diatonic harmony.
"Diatonic function": The role of a note or chord within a key, such as tonic, dominant, or subdominant.
- Understanding diatonic function is essential for analyzing classical music.
Variants and Related Words
Diatonically (adverb): In a diatonic manner.
- The piece moves diatonically through the scale.
Diatonicism (noun): The quality or system of being diatonic.
- The diatonicism of the hymn gives it a familiar, solid sound.
Synonyms
- Tonal (in the specific sense of using the notes of a key; though "tonal" is a broader term).
- Scalar (relating to or based on a scale).
Antonyms
- Chromatic: Involving notes outside the diatonic scale, using sharps, flats, and semitones not native to the key.
- The shift from a diatonic to a chromatic passage created tension.
Related Phrases and Concepts
Diatonic scale: The specific pattern of whole and half steps that defines a major or natural minor scale.
- The major diatonic scale follows the pattern: whole, whole, half, whole, whole, whole, half.
Diatonic chord: A chord whose notes all belong to the underlying diatonic scale.
- In the key of G major, the chord F# diminished is not a diatonic chord.
Adjective
- based on or using the five tones and two semitones of the major or minor scales of western music
- based on the standard major or minor scales consisting of 5 tones and 2 semitones without modulation by accidentals