Octatonic

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. A musical structure comprised of eight notes that alternate between whole and half steps characterizes this concept
2. This term refers to a scale of eight unique pitches arranged in a specific alternating pattern for musical compositions
3. A particular scale that consists of eight different pitches arranged in a sequence of alternating whole and half steps is what this term signifies

Etymology: "Octatonic" is a technical coinage built from two parts: "octa-", from Greek "okto" meaning eight, and "tonic", from Greek "tonikos," relating to tone or pitch. Put together, the name describes a scale of eight pitches arranged in alternating whole and half steps, the pattern that gives the scale its character. The word belongs to music theory rather than everyday speech, and it describes a pattern that composers used long before anyone had a name for it. Its meaning is fixed by its construction: the "octa-" element counts the notes, and "tonic" points to the pitch system they belong to. The term is used mainly when discussing harmony in the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries, when composers such as Rimsky-Korsakov and Stravinsky made the scale a notable feature of their music.