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Pandiatonicism

This document defines and discusses the concept of pandiatonicism in music. Pandiatonicism can be defined as using the notes of a diatonic scale to achieve the sound of a diatonic key or mode, without emphasizing a single note as the tonal center. It represents a step between modality, which has a tonal center, and atonality, which has no tonal center. Playing a melody and chords using only the white notes on a piano, without emphasizing any particular root note, is provided as an example of pandiatonicism. John Coltrane's song "Love" is cited as fluctuating between tonality and pandiatonicism.

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Julio Gondin
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364 views2 pages

Pandiatonicism

This document defines and discusses the concept of pandiatonicism in music. Pandiatonicism can be defined as using the notes of a diatonic scale to achieve the sound of a diatonic key or mode, without emphasizing a single note as the tonal center. It represents a step between modality, which has a tonal center, and atonality, which has no tonal center. Playing a melody and chords using only the white notes on a piano, without emphasizing any particular root note, is provided as an example of pandiatonicism. John Coltrane's song "Love" is cited as fluctuating between tonality and pandiatonicism.

Uploaded by

Julio Gondin
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Pandiatonicism

Introduction
In the previous lessons, I explained the concepts of Tonal Harmony and Modal Harmony.
 I defined Tonality as having a functional harmony & a tonal centre
 I defined Modality as having a non-functional harmony & a tonal centre
With functional harmony (Tonality) there is a strong pull to the tonic, with the V7 wanting to resolve
down a 5th to the tonic chord (like a G7 resolving to a CMaj7).

In modal harmony, however, because there is no functional harmony there IS NOT as strong a pull to the
tonic. However, because there still IS a tonic, there is still SOMEtendency to want to resolve to it. It is
nowhere near as strong as in functional harmony, but it is still there.

As long as there is a tonic chord (i.e. a root note or tonal centre) there will be some tendency to want to
resolve to it, no matter how weak. This is because by definition the tonic chord always feels ‘like home’ or
‘resolved’ or ‘completely at rest with no tension’. This means that all the other chords are heard in relation
to the tonic chord, and therefore have some level of tension that feels like they want to resolve back to the
tonic.
Pandiatonicism
In my previous lesson on http://www.thejazzpianosite.com/jazz-piano-lessons/modern-jazz-theory/modal-jazz/ ,I
said that you need to constantly reinforce the root note to establish the tonal centre. But what happens
when you stop reinforcing that root note and thus lose your tonal centre? I am going to call
this Pandiatonicism.

Pandiatonicism can be defined as: The use of a diatonic scale and chords to achieve the sound of a
diatonic key/mode but without emphasising a single note as the tonal centre.

Pandiatonicism literally means:


 Pan = All
 Diatonic = ‘key’
So the name implies we are playing in ‘all keys’ or ‘all the keys within a particular diatonic scale’.

Pandiatonicism is like a kind of like an in-between step separating Modality and Atonality
 Tonality → Modality → Pandiatonicism → Atonality
TONALITY MODALITY PANDIATONICISM

Major & minor keys All modes Generic diatonic ‘key’

Functional Harmony No Functional Harmony No Functional Harmony

Tonal Centre Tonal Centre No Tonal Centre


Playing a melody and chords using only the white notes on the piano, but not emphasising any particular
root note or tonic chord, would be an example of pandiatonicism.
Some Semantics
 The word ‘Tonal Harmony’ is often used as a synonym for ‘Functional Harmony’
 But technically, the term ‘Tonal’ just means there is a ‘Tonal Centre’, whether or not the harmony
is ‘Functional’
 So, if you wanted to be pedantically accurate, you could use the word ‘Pitch Centric’ instead of
‘Tonal’ (which is synonymous)
So if we wanted to use very technical and academic labelling we could say:

Technical Term Layman’s Term Characteristics Example

Pitch Centric Functionality Tonality - Functional Harmony All Pop songs


- Tonal Centre Most Jazz songs
- Diatonic (Maj & min)

Pitch Centric Modality Modality - Non-Functional Harmony Modal Jazz


- Tonal Centre
- Diatonic (all modes)

Non-Pitch Centric Modality Pandiatonicism - Non-Functional Harmony Some Modal Jazz (relatively
(Modality) - No Tonal Centre rare)
- Diatonic (all modes)

Pitch Centric Chromaticism ? - Non-Functional Harmony Free Jazz (see next lesson)
- Tonal Centre
- Chromatic (all notes)

Non-Pitch Centric Atonality - Non-Functional Harmony Some Free Jazz


Chromaticism - No Tonal Centre 12 Tone Serialism
- Chromatic (all notes)
(Aside: You CAN’T have functional harmony without a tonal centre. Functional Harmony implies that there
is a tonic chord towards which we are moving).
Have a Listen to
 Love ~ John Coltrane (on the ‘First Meditations’ or ‘Meditations’ albums. This song fluctuates
between tonality and pandiatonicism)

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