[Smt-talk] The "Governing tone"

[Michael Luxner]

Colleagues,
 
How do you feel about considering the dominant the "governing tone?"  I
don't think it's strange at all, and teach it that way all the time.  If
tonic is perceived as the "pitch of rest," surely it must be resting
from something, from some kind of tension that gives the sense of
resolution when tonic is reached.  And that something, whether
determined by the acoustics of the harmonic series or the habits of
centuries of practice, would be the dominant.  Thus the dominant does,
indeed, "govern" ("dominate") the tonic.  
 
Michael Luxner, Ph.D.
Professor of Music
Millikin University
 
 
 


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>>> "Arthurs, Daniel" <Daniel.Arthurs at unt.edu> 5/3/2012 6:07 PM >>>

Dear List,
  
It seems very strange to me that he considers the dominant “the
governing tone”; the subdominant is under it, but then he adds a second
moon orbiting around the dominant when he describes VI as the super
dominant, not submediant!
 

Danny Arthurs ( http://music.unt.edu/mhte/node/208 )
Lecturer of Music Theory ( http://music.unt.edu/mhte/node/208 ) 
Division of MHTE ( http://www.music.unt.edu/mhte )
College of Music ( http://www.music.unt.edu/ ), UNT (
http://www.unt.edu/ )
 
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