[Smt-talk] The "Governing tone"

[Leinberger, Charles F.]

Colleagues,

May I suggest that in the hierarchy of scale degrees, the tonic is the King.  The dominant, however, is the Queen, without whom the King has no real power. J

C.L.

*  **  ***  *****  ********  *************
Charles Leinberger, Ph.D., Associate Professor.
 Department of Music, The University of Texas at El Paso.
 500 West University Avenue, El Paso TX 79968-0552 (U.S.A.)
 (915) 747-7800 Office  (915) 747-5023 Fax.
http://utminers.utep.edu/charlesl/
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From: smt-talk-bounces at lists.societymusictheory.org [mailto:smt-talk-bounces at lists.societymusictheory.org] On Behalf Of David K Feurzeig
Sent: Friday, May 04, 2012 10:29 AM
To: Michael Luxner
Cc: nicolas.meeus at paris-sorbonne.fr; Dimitar N Ninov; smt-talk at lists.societymusictheory.org
Subject: Re: [Smt-talk] The "Governing tone"

Michael Luxner wrote:
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.

This is exactly how I think of, and teach, the dominant function. In the common practice, the dominant goes to the tonic--so normatively that when it doesn't, we deem this "deceptive" or otherwise exceptional. The tonic, by contrast, has no "valency;" it does not "demand" anything of its successor sonority.

David Feurzeig
University of Vermont
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