Tonality

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Music has tonality if it uses the notes of a major or minor scale. Such music is tonal. Nearly all Western music is tonal.

All tonal music is based on a major or minor scale. If you play the tune “Twinkle, twinkle little star” starting on a C, then you are using the notes of a C major scale. The note C will sound like the home note (the “tonic”) and, indeed, the tune finishes on a C. You could have started on any other note (C sharp, D, E flat, E etc) but, if you are playing it on a piano, you will need to know your scales i.e. which black notes to use. If you are singing it you do the sharps and flats automatically.

A piece of tonal music will usually modulate after a while. This means that it changes key. But the music will not sound finished until it goes back to the original key. If you sing The Star-Spangled Banner and stop after the words “our flag was still there” the song sounds as if it has stopped in mid-air. It will not sound finished until it goes back to the first key in the last two lines.

Most Western music from about 1600 onwards is based in a major or minor key. This system of tonality was used by all the great composers. When you listen to a symphony by Beethoven you are going on a journey through various key areas, always returning to the original tonic at the end. In some cases, such as Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony, it may start in the minor and finish in the major. This is because minor keys can sound disturbed, full of tension, but major keys sound happier and more relaxed.

The opposite of “tonality” is atonality. An atonal piece is one where there is no feeling of a home key. If you play lots of random notes it will sound atonal. Schoenberg wrote some atonal music. Of course, they are not just random notes (although it may sound like it to the listener at first), so he had to find another way of giving his music shape. That is why he invented the twelve-tone system.