kMandarin qiāng

Comment #14015 shows Kangxi Dictionary cited 《正字通》: 俗謂歌曲調曰腔，今俗從音，作～. That means this character is the only used for the usage as tune in Chinese Xiqu Opera (戲曲), Quyi show (曲藝) and traditional music (傳統音樂) as the term 聲腔, 行腔 and so on, not for all meanings of 腔 in the dictionary.

It is not better to treat it as the semantic variant of 腔 which shares all the meanings. That means we can’t use this character in the word 胸腔, 口腔 and so on to mean cavity.

This distinction is necessary in Chinese Xiqu Opera, Quyi Show and traditional music. We need to use different meanings at the same time. If we can distinguish the term of tune from the cavity, the sounds, the style and so on, the article or the book will be more clear in expression.