Definition of pentatonic in English:
pentatonic
adjective ˌpɛntəˈtɒnɪkˌpɛn(t)əˈtɑnɪk
Music Relating to, based on, or denoting a scale of five notes, especially one without semitones equivalent to an ordinary major scale with the fourth and seventh omitted.
pentatonic scales in the key of G Major
a simple pentatonic idea repeated chromatically
Example sentencesExamples
- At the start of the symphony, the strings are tuned to the notes of the pentatonic scale, and they are tuned back to the traditional Western scale as the symphony progresses.
- It's about unresolved conflict expressed through white notes colliding against black notes of the pentatonic scale.
- The set successfully employs many native elements including a pentatonic scale, dotted rhythms prominent in traditional Korean music and references to folk songs.
- In the same way Bartok used many seconds and sevenths found in monophonic Hungarian folk music, contemporary Korean composers have frequently used seconds and fourths derived from the pentatonic scale in both melody and harmony.
- Both the melody and harmony share the same pentatonic scalar basis, and the intervals of perfect fourths and major seconds derived from the pentatonic scale are frequently used both linearly and vertically in all eight variations.
Derivatives
noun
Music The pentatonicism helps lighten the contrapuntal texture.
Example sentencesExamples
- Dvorák's stay in America stimulated his compositional taste buds, much in favour of pentatonicism.
- His response to American popular styles during his stay in New York led to an intensification of certain characteristics, notably pentatonicism and ostinatos.
- The musical language, particularly the reliance on ‘oriental’ pentatonicism and much of the orchestral sound, seems to comment on the earlier work.
- One is the pentatonicism of the melodic lines, since the pentatonic formulae of folk song and children's runes are those that spring most spontaneously from nature's promises.
Definition of pentatonic in US English:
pentatonic
adjectiveˌpen(t)əˈtänikˌpɛn(t)əˈtɑnɪk
Music Relating to, based on, or denoting a scale of five notes, especially one without semitones equivalent to an ordinary major scale with the fourth and seventh omitted.
Example sentencesExamples
- It's about unresolved conflict expressed through white notes colliding against black notes of the pentatonic scale.
- Both the melody and harmony share the same pentatonic scalar basis, and the intervals of perfect fourths and major seconds derived from the pentatonic scale are frequently used both linearly and vertically in all eight variations.
- In the same way Bartok used many seconds and sevenths found in monophonic Hungarian folk music, contemporary Korean composers have frequently used seconds and fourths derived from the pentatonic scale in both melody and harmony.
- At the start of the symphony, the strings are tuned to the notes of the pentatonic scale, and they are tuned back to the traditional Western scale as the symphony progresses.
- The set successfully employs many native elements including a pentatonic scale, dotted rhythms prominent in traditional Korean music and references to folk songs.