TONALITY

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does tonality mean? 

• TONALITY (noun)
  The noun TONALITY has 1 sense:

1. any of 24 major or minor diatonic scales that provide the tonal framework for a piece of music

  Familiarity information: TONALITY used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• TONALITY (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Any of 24 major or minor diatonic scales that provide the tonal framework for a piece of music

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Synonyms:

key; tonality

Hypernyms ("tonality" is a kind of...):

musical notation ((music) notation used by musicians)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "tonality"):

major key; major mode (a key whose harmony is based on the major scale)

minor key; minor mode (a key based on the minor scale)

home key; tonic key (the basic key in which a piece of music is written)

Antonym:

atonality (the absence of a key; alternative to the diatonic system)

Derivation:

tonal (having tonality; i.e. tones and chords organized in relation to one tone such as a keynote or tonic)

 Context examples 

I take the spectrum and I, essentially, mathematically resample that to a musical scale and that gives that spectrum, which is inherently atonal, it gives it the tonality.

(Does Our Galaxy Sound Like Funky Blues Music?, George Putic/VOA)