TONAL music: definition and characteristics

Music is an art that has evolved from the point where the human being discovered that it could take a physical phenomenon such as sound and turn it into a medium of expression through invention. As is also the case in other arts, eventually the development of a discipline is studied, things are discovered and Findings are established to form a structure that becomes part of the knowledge for the rest of the generations.

In music, certain things have been established on which we can base ourselves to continue creating with coherence. This lesson from a TEACHER will offer you the definition and characteristics oftonal music, a basic concept of how the music we know is structured.

Index

1. What is tonal music
2. Characteristics of tonal music
3. Tonality in music
4. Musical scales and grades

Tonal music is nothing more than music that is composed based on the established structure of the tonal system. By tone we refer to the set of established tuning sounds that we have defined over time, the notes that we know as do, re, mi, fa, sol, la and si, plus their midtones. Thus, academic Western music recognizes 12 keys (the seven notes plus semitones) and that they are part of the

The tonal system implies an organization by hierarchy in relation to the tuning and function of the tonic. The tonic is that note that represents the fundamental center of a scale. The opposite of tonal music is atonal music that ignores all that established hierarchy and implies that no note is the root note, on the contrary, no note has an established harmonic function.

We know that these terms can be confusing, so below we will go over certain concepts that we must clarify in order to understand clearly.

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So that you better understand the concept, below we are going to discover the main characteristics of atonal music. Thus, you can learn to detect this type of music more easily:

• Uses a tonal system.
• It is based on tonalities.
• Uses the notes of the scale do, re, mi, fa, sol, la and si, plus semitones
• Owns a armor to recognize tonality.
• Is based on the diatonic scale.
• Respects relationships hierarchy of tonality.
• It is based on the function harmonica of degrees.

As you may have thought, music is a whole world that even has its own rules and language. Although music is an element that accompanies us in daily life, by seeing it closely we can notice all the heritage of structure and knowledge that evolution has left us as heritage artistic.

Due to the physical relationships of sound, in musical scales that we know there is always one of the notes that provides greater stability. We call this note that serves as the basis in harmony for the rest of the notes tonic or fundamental.

Tonality in music receives the name of the tonic. For example, in the key of C major, the tonic is C. In the score, the tonality is indicated by what we know as armor, is that set of alterations (sharps or flats) that allows to maintain the appropriate relationships between the notes to maintain the tonality.

The scale is a note progression with defined tuning and distances from each other (intervals). Each note of the scale has a harmonic function and in relation to this we define what we call degrees. The degrees provide us with the bases of the tonal system and therefore, of the tonal music.

Function of musical grades

The degrees are represented by Roman numerals and are named based on the function they serve. This function that we mentioned is defined by the stability or instability. We say that a note or a chord is stable when it gives the sensation of rest to the ear. On the contrary, instability is the need to resolve, to move in pitch to a more stable note or chord.

The grades of diatonic music are as follows:

• I - First Grade: Tonic
• II - Second Grade: Supertonic
• III - Third Grade: Through
• IV - Fourth degree: Subdominant
• V - Fifth grade: Dominant
• VI - Sixth grade: Superdominant or Submediate
• VII - Seventh grade: Sensitive

The grades are the basis of the chords we use within a key, since by taking the base note of each degree and harmonizing it by thirds, we obtain a specific chord that remains within the key. For example, if our base note is C and we must harmonize by interval of thirds: The third of C is E. Then the third of Mi is Sol. The chord that is formed is C, E, G, which is the C Major chord.

This same process applies to all grades, and this is how we obtain the basic chords of a key, and on which tonal music is based.

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