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Post-Tonal Music Theory

This section is only rudimentary, having been abandoned for now. I wish I could predict when, or if, I will return to it.

This section plans to follow the format of the text Understanding Post-Tonal Music, 2nd edition, by Miguel A. Roig-Francoli. It also plans to draw from Introduction to Post-Tonal Theory, by Joseph N. Straus, Analytical Approaches to Twentieth-Centurey Music, by Joel Lester, Techniques of the Contemporary Composer, by David Cope, The Structure of Atonal Music, by Alen Forte, and pertinent sections of Tonal Harmony, by Kostka, Payne, and Almen, and The Musician's Guide to Theory and Analysis, by Clendinning and Marvin. Term definitions are based not only on these textbooks, but also standard music dictionaries such as The Harvard Dictionary of Music, Essential Dictionary of Music, and others. Aside from these basic sources, a wide variety of source material is planned to be used as well.

Introductory Terms

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Updated June 6, 2026 8:23 PM