Chromaticism
Using notes outside the scale — denser, slippier, less settled harmony
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Chromaticism is the use of notes outside the scale: adding sharps or flats to a seven-note scale makes harmony denser, melody slippier and tonality less settled. It can be a decorative passing tone or a structural chromatic harmony — the nineteenth-century expansion of harmony is largely chromaticism deepening.
It differs from atonality: chromaticism can still have a centre, only with its gravity loosened; atonality removes the centre. The usual mistake is to hear "chromatic" as "atonal" — chromaticism is material, tonality is relationship; change the material and the relationship need not disappear.
Read deeper → Chromatic Harmony
Sources
- 半音体系的历史与功能，参 The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, "Chromaticism"；本文为原创表述
Used for fact-checking only; all prose is original.