whole-tone scale

American  

[hohl-tohn] / ˈhoʊlˌtoʊn /

noun

Music.

1. a scale progressing entirely by whole tones, as C, D, E, F♯, G♯, A♯, C.

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whole-tone scale British  

noun

1. either of two scales produced by commencing on one of any two notes a chromatic semitone apart and proceeding upwards or downwards in whole tones for an octave. Such a scale, consisting of six degrees to the octave, is used by Debussy and subsequent composers

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Example Sentences

To the ears of his ; contemporaries, Debussy's novelty lay in his exotic harmonies, in his use of the whole-tone scale, and in his impressionistic handling of instrumental color.

From Time Magazine Archive

He invented the symphonic tone poem, dramatically expanded the harmonic vocabulary and, among other prescient ideas, experimented with the whole-tone scale and atonality.

From Time Magazine Archive

Parodies whose originals they failed to recognize, experiments in the whole-tone scale that would have interested disciples of Debussy, but his rhythms they understood and recognized as faultless.

From Mary Wollaston by Webster, Henry Kitchell

They form a refinement in chromatics based, as at present appears, on the whole-tone scale.

From Sketch of a New Esthetic of Music by Busoni, Ferruccio

With a crash of chord and a roll of cymbals re-enters the first motive, to flickering harmonies of violins, harp and flutes, taken up by succeeding voices, all in the whole-tone scale.

From Symphonies and Their Meaning; Third Series, Modern Symphonies by Goepp, Philip H.