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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Segoe UI","sans-serif";color:windowtext">To Michael, David (Feurzig), and the list,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Segoe UI","sans-serif";color:windowtext"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Segoe UI","sans-serif";color:windowtext">To clarify my remark: it’s strange to me because Venth (et al. according to David) is describing a scale step, not a sonority (so far as I can tell, and
which your descriptions focus on). It’s entirely possible I am reading it too literally when he states, “</span><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Segoe UI","sans-serif";color:windowtext">Each tone of the scale, whether major or minor, has its distinctive
name.” It’s going to be much harder to teach a class that the dominant scale step somehow governs over the key (and do we really use such tyrannical metaphors in describing stuff like this? Michael says it “dominates” the tonic, and so does the Clendinning
& Marvin text). </span><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Segoe UI","sans-serif";color:windowtext">Otherwise I agree with both of your descriptions of functional harmony.
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Segoe UI","sans-serif";color:windowtext"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Segoe UI","sans-serif";color:windowtext">Perhaps this arises from a potential confusion that comes up every time I teach Theory 1: First I introduce the functional scale-step names, then later
the functional harmonies that are created from those scale-steps, often stating, “The harmonies share the same formal names. Sometimes we may refer to the tonic as a melodic tone, other times as a triad.”</span><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Segoe UI","sans-serif";color:windowtext"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Segoe UI","sans-serif";color:windowtext"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Segoe UI","sans-serif";color:windowtext">I also found it strange because sometimes it appears Venth (and others, as David Carson Berry pointed out) attempts to give (pseudo?) etymologies of scale
step names (mediant is “middle”, for instance, which I have no argument with). Today some ascribe numeric equivalencies to those formal names, calling mediant “third” as opposed to “middle”, and submediant (which doesn’t appear in Venth and others) as “under-third”
(i.e., relative to the tonic). In Kostka-Payne, they plainly write, “Musicians…often refer to scale degrees by a set of traditional names rather than numbers,” p. 17. Also, modern texts today show a literal orbit of scale steps below and above the tonic
(as in the Clendinning-Marvin, Kostka-Payne, or Laitz texts), but Venth’s clearly has everything literally orbiting the dominant by capping it with the tonic and eighth tone as “completing tone,” which of course is also the tonic. (Also, I didn’t intend for
any negative connotation by my use of the word “strange.”)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Segoe UI","sans-serif";color:windowtext"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Segoe UI","sans-serif";color:windowtext">Finally, if students today were asked to decide which scale step governs over the key, I wonder how many would say “dominant”?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Segoe UI","sans-serif";color:windowtext"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Segoe UI","sans-serif";color:windowtext">Danny<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Segoe UI","sans-serif";color:windowtext"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:8.0pt;font-family:"Segoe UI","sans-serif"">Danny Arthurs, Lecturer, UNT</span><span style="font-size:8.0pt;font-family:"Segoe UI","sans-serif";color:#1F497D"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Segoe UI","sans-serif";color:windowtext"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";color:windowtext">From:</span></b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";color:windowtext"> Michael Luxner
<a href="mailto:[mailto:mluxner@mail.millikin.edu]">[mailto:mluxner@mail.millikin.edu]</a>
<br>
<b>Sent:</b> Friday, May 04, 2012 10:47 AM<br>
<b>To:</b> <a href="mailto:smt-talk@lists.societymusictheory.org">smt-talk@lists.societymusictheory.org</a>; Arthurs, Daniel<br>
<b>Cc:</b> <a href="mailto:nicolas.meeus@paris-sorbonne.fr">nicolas.meeus@paris-sorbonne.fr</a>; Dimitar N Ninov<br>
<b>Subject:</b> Re: [Smt-talk] The "Governing tone"<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Segoe UI","sans-serif";color:windowtext">Colleagues,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Segoe UI","sans-serif";color:windowtext"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Segoe UI","sans-serif";color:windowtext">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 <u>from</u> 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.
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Segoe UI","sans-serif";color:windowtext"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Segoe UI","sans-serif";color:windowtext">Michael Luxner, Ph.D.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Segoe UI","sans-serif";color:windowtext">Professor of Music<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Segoe UI","sans-serif";color:windowtext">Millikin University<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Segoe UI","sans-serif";color:windowtext"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Segoe UI","sans-serif";color:windowtext"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Segoe UI","sans-serif";color:windowtext"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Segoe UI","sans-serif";color:windowtext"><br>
</span><span style="font-family:"Monospaced","serif";color:windowtext"><br>
</span><span style="font-size:7.5pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";color:windowtext">CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE: This message along with any included attachments may contain information that is confidential and privileged. Unless you are the addressee (or authorized
to receive for the addressee,) you may not use, copy, or disclose to anyone any information contained in this message. If you have received this message in error, please notify the sender and immediately delete the message and any attachments. Thank you for
your cooperation.</span><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Segoe UI","sans-serif";color:windowtext">
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Segoe UI","sans-serif";color:windowtext"> <br>
>>> "Arthurs, Daniel" <</span><a href="mailto:Daniel.Arthurs@unt.edu"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Segoe UI","sans-serif"">Daniel.Arthurs@unt.edu</span></a><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Segoe UI","sans-serif";color:windowtext">> 5/3/2012
6:07 PM >>><o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Segoe UI","sans-serif";color:windowtext">Dear List,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Segoe UI","sans-serif";color:windowtext"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Segoe UI","sans-serif";color:windowtext">It seems very strange to me that he considers the dominant “the governing tone”; the subdominant is under it, but then he adds a
<i>second</i> moon orbiting around the dominant when he describes VI as the super dominant, not submediant!<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Segoe UI","sans-serif";color:windowtext"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://music.unt.edu/mhte/node/208"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Segoe UI","sans-serif";color:windowtext;text-decoration:none">Danny Arthurs</span></a><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Segoe UI","sans-serif";color:windowtext"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://music.unt.edu/mhte/node/208"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Segoe UI","sans-serif";color:windowtext;text-decoration:none">Lecturer of Music Theory</span></a><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Segoe UI","sans-serif";color:windowtext">
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Segoe UI","sans-serif"">Division of
</span><a href="http://www.music.unt.edu/mhte"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Segoe UI","sans-serif";color:windowtext;text-decoration:none">MHTE</span></a><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Segoe UI","sans-serif""><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://www.music.unt.edu/"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Segoe UI","sans-serif";color:windowtext;text-decoration:none">College of Music</span></a><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Segoe UI","sans-serif"">,
</span><a href="http://www.unt.edu/"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Segoe UI","sans-serif";color:windowtext;text-decoration:none">UNT</span></a><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Segoe UI","sans-serif""><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Segoe UI","sans-serif";color:#1F497D"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
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