Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun Simultaneous use of two or more tonalities in a musical composition.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun music The use of multiple
keys in the same composition, especially by multiple instruments at the same time
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun music that uses two or more different keys at the same time
Etymologies
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Examples
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By the late 1940s, he was already employing modern classical ideas such as polytonality and dissonance, and working in unusual time signatures to create a distinctive jazz sound.
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By the late 1940s, he was already employing modern classical ideas such as polytonality and dissonance, and working in unusual time signatures to create a distinctive jazz sound.
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By the late 1940s, he was already employing modern classical ideas such as polytonality and dissonance, and working in unusual time signatures to create a distinctive jazz sound.
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By the late 1940s, he was already employing modern classical ideas such as polytonality and dissonance, and working in unusual time signatures to create a distinctive jazz sound.
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Many of Ives "compositions were ground breaking and anticipated 20th century musical techniques such as polytonality, atonality, 12 tone formations, polymetres, and polyrhythms.
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Beyond rhythm, Dave Brubeck challenged the public's ear with polytonality, or playing in multiple keys simultaneously.
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It was Dave Brubeck -- a man who could not read sheet music and who was nearly barred from graduating the College of the Pacific music school in 1942 because of it -- who reinvented the genre with his signature style of polyrhythms, odd time signatures, and polytonality.
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It was Dave Brubeck -- a man who could not read sheet music and who was nearly barred from graduating the College of the Pacific music school in 1942 because of it -- who reinvented the genre with his signature style of polyrhythms, odd time signatures, and polytonality.
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Beyond rhythm, Dave Brubeck challenged the public's ear with polytonality, or playing in multiple keys simultaneously.
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Beyond rhythm, Dave Brubeck challenged the public's ear with polytonality, or playing in multiple keys simultaneously.
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