Reznor regularly uses noise and distortion in his song arrangements, and incorporates dissonance with chromatic melody and/or harmony.
Beginning with a rhythmically driving low chromatic melody (alternating between bars of 2/4 and 3/8), a higher arpeggiated melody is quickly introduced as a secondary theme.
But Ms. Kavina opened her program with a series of short works from the instrument's infancy, when composers wrote nuanced, chromatic melodies for it.
Short chromatic melodies slowly meander, end inconclusively and can only be repeated.
"Constant Penelope" is built on a chromatic melody that, with a more up-to-date accompaniment, could almost pass as a 21st-century art song.
The nearly chromatic melody of the verses contrasts with a more standard rock melody in the middle eight.
This sense is enhanced by Jobim's circular, chromatic melodies that never seem to come to a complete rest.
The piece is well known for its typical chromatic melodies and for its recurrent use of pizzicati and col legno.
The chromatic melodies on "Phonetics" veer between abrupt and meandering, by a strong cohesion in the rhythm section.
Bach's recitatives often set the mood for the particular passages by highlighting emotionally charged words such as "crucify", "kill", or "mourn" with chromatic melodies.