tonality
[toh-nal-i-tee]
noun, plural to·nal·i·ties.
Music.
- the sum of relations, melodic and harmonic, existing between the tones of a scale or musical system.
- a particular scale or system of tones; a key.
(in painting, graphics, etc.) the system of tones or tints, or the color scheme, of a picture.
the quality of tones.
Origin of tonality
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019
Related Words for tonality
timbre, stress, strength, force, modulation, inflection, accent, emphasis, resonance, intonationExamples from the Web for tonality
Historical Examples of tonality
Yet it was in one tonality; there was no harmony, no melody.
MelomaniacsJames Huneker
The tonality of the music of the ancients was wholly artificial and unreal.
A Popular History of the Art of MusicW. S. B. Mathews
Regarding the tonality of these scales there is not very much to be said.
The Modes of Ancient Greek MusicDavid Binning Monro
The episode you quote moves evidently in the tonality of G minor.
Piano PlayingJosef Hofmann
For by this principle of tonality, melody and harmony as we know them became possible.
The Galaxy, June 1877Various
tonality
noun plural -ties
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