Music A-Level
Harmonic stasis
What Harmonic stasis means in Music A-Level, as defined for AQA.
Definitions of Harmonic stasis
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Reference: AQA
A sense of stasis or timelessness created when drones establish tonal centres without traditional functional harmony.
Created by composers employing ostinati as they move away from traditional functional harmony.
Topics that use Harmonic stasis
- Area of study 7: Art music since 1910 - Musical elements (AQA A-Level)
Related terms
- 20th-century chord structures
- 20th-century compositional techniques
- 20th-century rhythmic innovation
- A cappella
- Additive and subtractive processes
- Alternatives to functional tonality
- Atonality
- Atonality and tonality
Using Harmonic stasis in the exam
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