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Pandiatonicism is amusical technique of using thediatonic (as opposed to thechromatic)scale without the limitations offunctionaltonality. Music using this technique ispandiatonic.
The term "pandiatonicism" was coined byNicolas Slonimsky in the second edition ofMusic since 1900 to describechord formations of any number up to all sevendegrees of thediatonic scale, "used freely in democratic equality".[2]Triads with added notes such as thesixth,seventh, orsecond (added tone chords) are the most common,[3][4]) while the "most elementary form" is anonharmonic bass.[1] According to Slonimsky's definition,
Pan-diatonicism sanctions the simultaneous use of any or all seven tones of the diatonic scale, with thebass determining theharmony. The chord-building remains tertian, with the seventh, ninth, or thirteenth chords being treated as consonances functionally equivalent to the fundamental triad. (Theeleventh chord is shunned intonic harmony because of itsquartal connotations.) Pan-diatonicism, as consolidation of tonality, is the favorite technique ofNEO-CLASSICISM [sic].[5]
Pandiatonic music typically uses the diatonic notes freely indissonant combinations without conventionalresolutions and/or without standardchord progressions, but always with a strong sense oftonality due to the absence of chromatics. "Pandiatonicism possesses both tonal andmodal aspects, with a distinct preference for major keys".[2] Characteristic examples include the opening ofSergei Prokofiev'sPiano Concerto No. 3,Alfredo Casella'sValse diatonique, andIgor Stravinsky'sPulcinella.[6] "The functional importance of theprimary triads...remains undiminished in pandiatonic harmony".[2] An opposed point of view holds that pandiatonicism does not project a clear and stable tonic.[7] Pandiatonicism is also referred to as "white-note music,"[8] though in fact occasionalaccidentals may be present.[9] Other composers who employed the technique areMaurice Ravel,Paul Hindemith,Darius Milhaud,Aaron Copland, andRoy Harris.[10] Pandiatonicism is also employed injazz (e.g., added sixth ninth chord) and inHenry Cowell's tone clusters.[11]
Slonimsky later came to regard pandiatonicism as a diatonic counterpart ofArnold Schoenberg'stwelve-tone technique, whereby melodies may be made up of seven different notes of the diatonic scale, and then beinverted,retrograded, orboth. According to this system, "strict pandiatoniccounterpoint" may use progressions of seven different notes in each voice, with no vertical duplication.[10]
The term has been criticized as one of many by which, "Stravinsky's music, everywhere and at once, is made to represent or encompass every conceivable technique",[12] and that has, "become so vague a concept that it has very little meaning or use".[13] Pandiatonic music is usually defined by what it is not, "by the absence of traditional elements":[14] chromatic, atonal, twelve-tone, functional, clear tonic, and/or traditional dissonance resolutions.[15] "It has been applied...to diatonic music lacking harmonic consistency [or]...centricity".[16] Slonimsky himself, making fun of the definition, quoted a professor calling pandiatonicism "C-major that sounds like hell".[17]
Examples of pandiatonicism include the harmoniesAaron Copland used in his populist work,Appalachian Spring,[18] and theminimalist music bySteve Reich,Philip Glass, and the later works ofJohn Adams.[9][19]William Mann describesThe Beatles' "This Boy" as, "harmonically...one of their most intriguing, with its chains of pandiatonic clusters".[20]
The following musical works include pandiatonicism.
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