Harmony
Functional Harmony: Tonic, Predominant, Dominant
Tonic, predominant and dominant describe what a chord does to a phrase rather than what it is. This is how the three harmonic jobs divide the work.
Tonic
The first degree of a scale, the note that a key is named for and that tonal music treats as its home and point of rest.
Also called: keynote, home tone
The tonic is the first degree of a scale, the note that gives a key its name. In C major the tonic is C, and in A minor it is A. Tonal music treats the tonic as its point of rest, and phrases usually end on it in cadences. The chord built on the tonic is labelled I in Roman numeral analysis. The V to I progression is the authentic cadence that closes most tonal phrases. The tonic can change during a piece, which is what modulation means. In movable-do solfège the tonic is always do, whatever the key.
Related terms
- DominantThe fifth degree of the scale, a perfect fifth above the tonic, which pulls strongly back toward the tonic.
- SubdominantThe fourth degree of the scale, a fifth below the tonic, which often leads to the dominant or tonic.
- Movable doA solfège system in which do is always the tonic of the key, so the syllables name scale degrees in any key.
- Scale degreeThe position of a note within a scale, numbered from the tonic as 1 through 7, used in solfège and Roman numeral analysis.
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Harmony
Roman Numeral Analysis: How to Label a Chord Progression
Roman numerals label each chord by the scale degree of its root and its quality. Here is a step-by-step method, with I vi IV V worked in C and G.