The impetus of taking the trouble to conceive and give practical sense to the theories of transtonality came from the performing and compositional experiences of the writers as they sought new ways to express harmonic relationships within the duality of diatonicism and chromaticism.

For this purpose, the first consideration was to allow for the fact that the boundaries of key establishment had supposedly been found in the late nineteenth century and early twentieth centuries. Consequently, the thought began to emerge that it would be necessary to modify or circumvent the conventional tonic/ dominant relationships as usually enclosed within the diatonic commands of a key.

In addition, since keys themselves are heavily influenced or directed by the passage of well used chord root patterns it became obvious that any new approach would have to come from a different direction.

Our eventual solution was to create new harmonic alliances by developing a series of harmonic negotiations, which could be directed by the melody line rather than by the usual preconceived tonal progressions laid down in the bass line. The results of these conclusions came to be known as transtonality, which implies a new perspective of tonality.

It needs to be said here though, that transtonality is not an attempt to emulate or reinvent atonality or serialism . However, it will be found that there is some common ground through the admission of all twelve pitches into full harmonic equality without the intervention of key changes.

-from the Foreward