*I hope that title makes sense.
So, often I hear songs in the chiptune world in which the melodies stick to the proper scale, mode, tonic, all the way through. People seem to like it, with exceptions that are considered "boring".
Then I hear music that seems to have notes going all over the place, disregarding scale or tonal center, seeming to randomly switch modes and tonalities with no warning. People also like THIS, also with exceptions. I'm not talking about purely atonal music, but music that is very loose in the path it takes in returning to the tonic, and not in a "jazzy" way, either.
So... how do you "break the tonal center" and get away with it? And what do you call it? Eh... I'll just say "atonal" anyway.
One thing I've noticed about the songs that I like that incorporate this device is that the atonality is almost a parody in nature. It's like the composer knew where the note was "supposed" to go, but threw it off somewhere else just because. It almost follows that Avril Lavigne chord progression, and the artist, who is aware of that fact and deliberately wrote it that way, is laughing his head off at your confusion.
And with other songs, it will go off just for a note or two, then come right back to the center and pretend nothing ever happened, very much aware that something did indeed happen..
What are your thoughts?
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