Sam Kemp asks:

>>Piston's music becomes less quartally-based....
>
>....In all politeness, meaning what exactly? I hate to be ignorant, but
>such words mean as little to me as "hexachord" and the other academicisms
>that seem to pervade "learned" writings about Schoenberg, et al, that I
>think must contribute to some of the public's general fear of atonality.

Sorry.  I was trying shorthand, all that term is.  As you know, most
Western harmony is based on thirds, as in C-E-G, A-C-E, D-F-Ab, Bb-D-F#.
Quartal harmony is based on fourths, for example:  C-F-Bb.  Not only is
Piston's harmony in the 30s and 40s based on fourths, but many of the
melodies are filled with fourths as well.

Steve Schwartz