In its more general sense, **tonal music** is any music that hierarchically organizes its tonal materials around a central pitch called the [[tonic]]. However, many theorists use the term more narrowly as a metonym for music of the [[common practice]].^[For a discussion of the problematic usage of the term *tonality*, see Jason Yust, “Tonality and Racism,” *Journal of Music Theory* 68, no. 1 (2024): 59–88, https://doi.org/10.1215/00222909-10974705. See also Dmitri Tymoczko’s response to Yust, in which he distinguishes between broader and narrower meanings of the term: “It’s the Thought That Counts,” *Journal of Music Theory* 68, no. 1 (2024): 125–32, https://doi.org/10.1215/00222909-10974760.]