The Naturalism of Tonality – Part 1: Tonal Gravity

Music – and music composition – is oft looked upon as an almost divine ability or gift, void of explanation and (often) definition. One point of view is that music is a language, an idea in which I share a similar opinion. Like conventional languages, music has syntax, semantics, gramma, and etymology. I however, will not discuss something as historic as etymology, rather focusing on syntax, semantics and grammar. I am assuming that most people reading this have at least basic knowledge of harmony, if not please read the wikipedia article, especially the external links.

The ultimate question that needs to be answered is “What is Dominant”. What makes chord V (V⁷) dominant, and why is it so named. These are all essentially the same questions and have the same single answer. Generally, the answer without any specifics is because of tension and resolution (release) within a perfect cadence. Chord V has a dominating effect over I, precisely because of the tension within the relativity of chord V, especially V⁷.

What creates the tension in chord V, is what makes tonality natural. Every note, no matter what produces the notes, have a fundamental, and overtones. The first notes of these harmonics are: Root (fundamental), 5^th, 8^ve, Maj3^rd, 5^th, b7^th. If we even glance at these notes, we are made aware that these are the same notes that make V⁷. The notes that must be noted are the only ones that create the tension in the chord, the Maj3^rd and the b7^th, together creating the tritone, or augmented 4^th (diminished 5^th). All the pent up tension in the tritone – created by the dissonance of it – have a gravitational need to resolve to chord I (Ti-Do/Fa-Mi). This tension is used and exploited, by composers and is effectively used by many other artists also – obviously not in exactly the same way. Cadences are exactly that: either resolution, tension followed by the inevitable release; or not, tension followed by an increase in tension because of a cadence that implies I but denies the quality release associated with I. It has been said that an analysis of tonal music (and with some exceptions, atonal music) is basically an extremely augmented I-V-I – Sonata form is a great example of this. The exploitation of this harmonic series was arguably at it’s peak with the use of the blue note in Blues and Jazz, this note is effectively the 6^th harmonic (5^th overtone).

The powerful effect of tritone, in the Middle Ages, was been avoided for its restless nature. It was even described as diabolus in musicā (“the Devil in music”) by Guido of Arezzo. Organum avoided the interval, as did Fux counterpoint. Lydian music called for the 4^th degree of the scale to be flattened whenever used in conjoint with the tonic. But the tritone was eventually exploited (much within the emotional precedent set by the naming of it as diabolus in musicā); the fully diminished VII chord (effectively just a V^{7 b9}) ultimately came into popular use.

Essentially, what makes dominant dominating, is the tritone within a note’s harmonics (especially when put into context by being followed by dropping of a 5^th). The gravitational pull the tritone to resolve, is too great to ignore, and is the only reason why chord V falls to I.

Part 2: Exploitations
Part 3: Inherent Tonality

CoCoA

CoCoA, the Compilation Compiler Advisor, contains thousands of free, public domain recordings. The website has been down, or virtually unusable, for quite some time, and has recently re-opened with a new, quicker and easier site design.

The recordings aren’t the highest quality in the world, however you have to take into account that recordings have to be 50 years old to be PD. And if you can ignore the crackles of some, there are some perfectly fine recordings there. As soon as IMSLP comes back online, CoCoA will be a very nice addition to PD. Imagine reading the IMSLP score, while listening to a CoCoA recording.

URL: http://cocoa.fbk.eu:8282/