Punctual music is a name sometimes used for twentieth century art music composed using certain types of methods associated with total serialism. These techniques have nothing to do with impressionist painting, even though the movement has been called pointillism as well as puctualism. This is related to the meaning, "Consisting in a point; limited to a point; unextended." (from the Webster's 1913 Dictionary) , because it refers to music where each note (or event) is treated separately as opposed to being part of larger entities.
