Are there songs that are in the chromatic scale?

The name of the pictureThe name of the pictureThe name of the pictureClash Royale CLAN TAG#URR8PPP











up vote
3
down vote

favorite












I noticed Entry of the Gladiators is said to be in C major, but I was wondering if it could be in the chromatic scale since it uses all the notes. And if not, are there examples of songs that are considered to be in the chromatic scale?










share|improve this question

























    up vote
    3
    down vote

    favorite












    I noticed Entry of the Gladiators is said to be in C major, but I was wondering if it could be in the chromatic scale since it uses all the notes. And if not, are there examples of songs that are considered to be in the chromatic scale?










    share|improve this question























      up vote
      3
      down vote

      favorite









      up vote
      3
      down vote

      favorite











      I noticed Entry of the Gladiators is said to be in C major, but I was wondering if it could be in the chromatic scale since it uses all the notes. And if not, are there examples of songs that are considered to be in the chromatic scale?










      share|improve this question













      I noticed Entry of the Gladiators is said to be in C major, but I was wondering if it could be in the chromatic scale since it uses all the notes. And if not, are there examples of songs that are considered to be in the chromatic scale?







      scales chromatic






      share|improve this question













      share|improve this question











      share|improve this question




      share|improve this question










      asked 3 hours ago









      foreyez

      3,53622057




      3,53622057




















          1 Answer
          1






          active

          oldest

          votes

















          up vote
          5
          down vote













          Colloquially, we don't say pieces are "in the chromatic scale," no. We can say that a piece is in C major, or even just in C (not specifying major or minor), but not that something is in the chromatic scale.



          One reason this might be so is due to the inherent hierarchy of tonality. If a piece is in C, arguably the two most important pitches will be C and G. A♯, however, will be comparatively low on that hierarchy. Therefore, saying a piece is in the key of "chromatic" or even "C chromatic" starts to muddy up the hierarchy that gave the piece sense of tonic in the first place. In contrast, saying a piece is "in C" gives us an immediate sense of that tonal hierarchy.



          Around approximately 1920, composers such as Arnold Schoenberg viewed the increasing chromaticism of the earlier century (by composers like Wagner, Bruckner, and Mahler) as moving inexorably towards complete chromaticism. This is ultimately what spurned the notion of atonal music, which is music without a tonic. One branch of atonal music is serial music, wherein a piece is constructed using a pre-determined matrix of pitches. (This is a very basic definition, but it works for this answer.)



          I say this because, in music without a tonic, we could in theory speak of it as being "in the chromatic scale" since there is no hierarchy of pitches. (Schoenberg famously spoke of the "democracy of tones" in this music.) But still it boils down to the fact that we just don't say something is "in the chromatic scale"; we'd just say it's atonal (or non-tonal) instead.






          share|improve this answer




















          • Another composer to check out is Charles Ives. He wrote many songs. While the songs are (mostly) not 12 tone music like Schoenberg, they can be very unusual form a tonal perspective.
            – Michael Curtis
            1 hour ago











          Your Answer







          StackExchange.ready(function()
          var channelOptions =
          tags: "".split(" "),
          id: "240"
          ;
          initTagRenderer("".split(" "), "".split(" "), channelOptions);

          StackExchange.using("externalEditor", function()
          // Have to fire editor after snippets, if snippets enabled
          if (StackExchange.settings.snippets.snippetsEnabled)
          StackExchange.using("snippets", function()
          createEditor();
          );

          else
          createEditor();

          );

          function createEditor()
          StackExchange.prepareEditor(
          heartbeatType: 'answer',
          convertImagesToLinks: false,
          noModals: false,
          showLowRepImageUploadWarning: true,
          reputationToPostImages: null,
          bindNavPrevention: true,
          postfix: "",
          noCode: true, onDemand: true,
          discardSelector: ".discard-answer"
          ,immediatelyShowMarkdownHelp:true
          );



          );













           

          draft saved


          draft discarded


















          StackExchange.ready(
          function ()
          StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fmusic.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f74697%2fare-there-songs-that-are-in-the-chromatic-scale%23new-answer', 'question_page');

          );

          Post as a guest






























          1 Answer
          1






          active

          oldest

          votes








          1 Answer
          1






          active

          oldest

          votes









          active

          oldest

          votes






          active

          oldest

          votes








          up vote
          5
          down vote













          Colloquially, we don't say pieces are "in the chromatic scale," no. We can say that a piece is in C major, or even just in C (not specifying major or minor), but not that something is in the chromatic scale.



          One reason this might be so is due to the inherent hierarchy of tonality. If a piece is in C, arguably the two most important pitches will be C and G. A♯, however, will be comparatively low on that hierarchy. Therefore, saying a piece is in the key of "chromatic" or even "C chromatic" starts to muddy up the hierarchy that gave the piece sense of tonic in the first place. In contrast, saying a piece is "in C" gives us an immediate sense of that tonal hierarchy.



          Around approximately 1920, composers such as Arnold Schoenberg viewed the increasing chromaticism of the earlier century (by composers like Wagner, Bruckner, and Mahler) as moving inexorably towards complete chromaticism. This is ultimately what spurned the notion of atonal music, which is music without a tonic. One branch of atonal music is serial music, wherein a piece is constructed using a pre-determined matrix of pitches. (This is a very basic definition, but it works for this answer.)



          I say this because, in music without a tonic, we could in theory speak of it as being "in the chromatic scale" since there is no hierarchy of pitches. (Schoenberg famously spoke of the "democracy of tones" in this music.) But still it boils down to the fact that we just don't say something is "in the chromatic scale"; we'd just say it's atonal (or non-tonal) instead.






          share|improve this answer




















          • Another composer to check out is Charles Ives. He wrote many songs. While the songs are (mostly) not 12 tone music like Schoenberg, they can be very unusual form a tonal perspective.
            – Michael Curtis
            1 hour ago















          up vote
          5
          down vote













          Colloquially, we don't say pieces are "in the chromatic scale," no. We can say that a piece is in C major, or even just in C (not specifying major or minor), but not that something is in the chromatic scale.



          One reason this might be so is due to the inherent hierarchy of tonality. If a piece is in C, arguably the two most important pitches will be C and G. A♯, however, will be comparatively low on that hierarchy. Therefore, saying a piece is in the key of "chromatic" or even "C chromatic" starts to muddy up the hierarchy that gave the piece sense of tonic in the first place. In contrast, saying a piece is "in C" gives us an immediate sense of that tonal hierarchy.



          Around approximately 1920, composers such as Arnold Schoenberg viewed the increasing chromaticism of the earlier century (by composers like Wagner, Bruckner, and Mahler) as moving inexorably towards complete chromaticism. This is ultimately what spurned the notion of atonal music, which is music without a tonic. One branch of atonal music is serial music, wherein a piece is constructed using a pre-determined matrix of pitches. (This is a very basic definition, but it works for this answer.)



          I say this because, in music without a tonic, we could in theory speak of it as being "in the chromatic scale" since there is no hierarchy of pitches. (Schoenberg famously spoke of the "democracy of tones" in this music.) But still it boils down to the fact that we just don't say something is "in the chromatic scale"; we'd just say it's atonal (or non-tonal) instead.






          share|improve this answer




















          • Another composer to check out is Charles Ives. He wrote many songs. While the songs are (mostly) not 12 tone music like Schoenberg, they can be very unusual form a tonal perspective.
            – Michael Curtis
            1 hour ago













          up vote
          5
          down vote










          up vote
          5
          down vote









          Colloquially, we don't say pieces are "in the chromatic scale," no. We can say that a piece is in C major, or even just in C (not specifying major or minor), but not that something is in the chromatic scale.



          One reason this might be so is due to the inherent hierarchy of tonality. If a piece is in C, arguably the two most important pitches will be C and G. A♯, however, will be comparatively low on that hierarchy. Therefore, saying a piece is in the key of "chromatic" or even "C chromatic" starts to muddy up the hierarchy that gave the piece sense of tonic in the first place. In contrast, saying a piece is "in C" gives us an immediate sense of that tonal hierarchy.



          Around approximately 1920, composers such as Arnold Schoenberg viewed the increasing chromaticism of the earlier century (by composers like Wagner, Bruckner, and Mahler) as moving inexorably towards complete chromaticism. This is ultimately what spurned the notion of atonal music, which is music without a tonic. One branch of atonal music is serial music, wherein a piece is constructed using a pre-determined matrix of pitches. (This is a very basic definition, but it works for this answer.)



          I say this because, in music without a tonic, we could in theory speak of it as being "in the chromatic scale" since there is no hierarchy of pitches. (Schoenberg famously spoke of the "democracy of tones" in this music.) But still it boils down to the fact that we just don't say something is "in the chromatic scale"; we'd just say it's atonal (or non-tonal) instead.






          share|improve this answer












          Colloquially, we don't say pieces are "in the chromatic scale," no. We can say that a piece is in C major, or even just in C (not specifying major or minor), but not that something is in the chromatic scale.



          One reason this might be so is due to the inherent hierarchy of tonality. If a piece is in C, arguably the two most important pitches will be C and G. A♯, however, will be comparatively low on that hierarchy. Therefore, saying a piece is in the key of "chromatic" or even "C chromatic" starts to muddy up the hierarchy that gave the piece sense of tonic in the first place. In contrast, saying a piece is "in C" gives us an immediate sense of that tonal hierarchy.



          Around approximately 1920, composers such as Arnold Schoenberg viewed the increasing chromaticism of the earlier century (by composers like Wagner, Bruckner, and Mahler) as moving inexorably towards complete chromaticism. This is ultimately what spurned the notion of atonal music, which is music without a tonic. One branch of atonal music is serial music, wherein a piece is constructed using a pre-determined matrix of pitches. (This is a very basic definition, but it works for this answer.)



          I say this because, in music without a tonic, we could in theory speak of it as being "in the chromatic scale" since there is no hierarchy of pitches. (Schoenberg famously spoke of the "democracy of tones" in this music.) But still it boils down to the fact that we just don't say something is "in the chromatic scale"; we'd just say it's atonal (or non-tonal) instead.







          share|improve this answer












          share|improve this answer



          share|improve this answer










          answered 3 hours ago









          Richard

          31.3k667132




          31.3k667132











          • Another composer to check out is Charles Ives. He wrote many songs. While the songs are (mostly) not 12 tone music like Schoenberg, they can be very unusual form a tonal perspective.
            – Michael Curtis
            1 hour ago

















          • Another composer to check out is Charles Ives. He wrote many songs. While the songs are (mostly) not 12 tone music like Schoenberg, they can be very unusual form a tonal perspective.
            – Michael Curtis
            1 hour ago
















          Another composer to check out is Charles Ives. He wrote many songs. While the songs are (mostly) not 12 tone music like Schoenberg, they can be very unusual form a tonal perspective.
          – Michael Curtis
          1 hour ago





          Another composer to check out is Charles Ives. He wrote many songs. While the songs are (mostly) not 12 tone music like Schoenberg, they can be very unusual form a tonal perspective.
          – Michael Curtis
          1 hour ago


















           

          draft saved


          draft discarded















































           


          draft saved


          draft discarded














          StackExchange.ready(
          function ()
          StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fmusic.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f74697%2fare-there-songs-that-are-in-the-chromatic-scale%23new-answer', 'question_page');

          );

          Post as a guest













































































          Comments

          Popular posts from this blog

          What does second last employer means? [closed]

          Installing NextGIS Connect into QGIS 3?

          One-line joke