tonic
1
8.0
- noun
- /ˈtɒnɪk/
- Specialized
:
tónica
- Give them the limitation that the song must start and end on the tonic note of the scale.
- tonic note
- tonic and dominant
- the tonic chord
Now we're going to a flat tonic diminished.
- Now we're going to a flat tonic diminished.
Examples
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In a major scale, the tonic is the first note and serves as the home base for the melody.
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The ability to recognize and recall the tonic pitch is essential for understanding tonal music.
Academic text (2006) -
OK, remember the C is the tonic of the key.
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If you go up two whole steps, you arrive at the tonic.
Academic text (2001) -
Very young children may sing just the resting tone or the tonic of the key.
Academic text (2009) -
When a song begins on the tonic or third degree, the harmony is sung a third above the melody.
Academic text (1997) -
Students need to be taught to use musical clues to deduce and retain the tonic.
Academic text (2006) -
The scale is then sung ascending and descending, followed by the tonic.
Academic text (2011) -
The class sings the D-flat major do-to-do scale from seven to seven, and resolves to tonic by singing up a half step.
Academic text (2011) -
Learning to play tonic-dominant cadential patterns allows students to move to more diatonic musical improvisations.
Academic text (1995)
Synonyms
1
6.0
The main tone of a musical scale that other tones return to
Compounds
- Archaic
1
3.7
A liquid you put on hair to make it look neat, make it easier to manage, or help the scalp
- UK
A way of writing music with syllables like do, re, mi to show the notes of a scale
Surface Forms
Morphology
Etymology
Tonic in music comes from the root tone meaning 'pitch' or 'sound', so the tonic is the main note or 'tone' on which a piece of music is built.