lot to comment on this thread, but i'm a noob so just wanted to mention a few things.
i'm surprised no one mentioned the term/concept of "pantonality" ('pan' as in 'all),
which i thought cleared up a lot of these semantic arguments. where all tones are equal within the context of our 12 tone western scale.
although i disagree with much of what you said antiatonality,
i can identify with the prejudice in your education, i had to deal with many roadblocks with trying to use any kind of common-practice tonality in my work. In the end, I think i received a very good music education but the composition department was far steeped in the idea that modern is always better.
also, i saw several comments trying to be black or white about Wagner, whether he was common practice, functional, or not. I think Wagner was a great and "gray" turning point and influence from more functional harmony to Schoenberg's eventual pioneering in "atonality." This was through Wagner's intense chromaticism. I think atonality came about as the next step in harmonic thinking that was quickly departing from functional harmony. Chromaticism became heavier and heavier, avoiding tonal centers more and more, until Schoenberg decided that the next step was to make all 12 tones equal.
and simply put (without looking it up), i use the word harmony as the relationship between pitched tones.
anyhow, i may make an intro thread, but its nice to be on a forum with people who have some proper music education...i've been dealing with pop musicians, engineers, and djs for far too long.
