Another important element of Medieval music theory was the unique tonal system by which pitches were arranged and understood.
"A note on the development of tonal systems in Tibeto-Burman."
They are fairly agglutinative, and have complex tonal systems (see Bench language).
The tone system also is of greater complexity, using 7 tones based on the classical tonal system.
"It's an extension of the tonal system, using all the techniques when and as needed, but I do it my way," he said.
There are over 60 distinct tonal systems with 5-11 tones depending on the variety.
Vietnamese, today, has had significant Chinese influence especially in vocabulary and tonal system.
In the latter part of the 19th century, composers began to move away from the tonal system.
Despite his defensiveness about his work, he never intended to tear down the entire tonal system.
But it depends on what you mean by the tonal system.