Chromaticism

Compositional technique in music Chromatic fourth: lament bass bassline in Dm (D–C♯–C(♮)–B–B♭–A) The diatonic scale notes (above) and the non-scale chromatic notes (below) Chromaticism is a compositional technique interspersing the primary diatonic pitches and chords with other pitches of the chromatic scale. In simple terms, within each octave, diatonic music uses only seven different notes, rather than the twelve available on a standard piano keyboard. Music is chromatic when it uses more than just these seven notes. Chromaticism is in contrast or addition to tonality or diatonicism and modality (the major and minor, or "white key", scales). Chromatic elements are considered, "elaborations of or substitutions for diatonic scale members". Development of chromaticism Contemporary jazz and rock bass guitarist Joseph Patrick Moore demonstrating chromaticism (video) Chromaticism began to develop in the late Renaissance period, notably in the 1550s, often as part of musica reservata, in the music of Cipriano de Rore, in Orlando Lasso's Prophetiae Sibyllarum, and in the theoretical work of Nicola Vicentino. The following timeline is abbreviated from its presentation by B