Primary tone

In Schenkerian analysis, the primary tone or head tone (German: Kopfton) is the starting tone of the fundamental line. The fundamental line itself originates as an arpeggiation of the tonic chord, filled by passing tones:

In accordance with the arpeggiation from which it stems, the fundamental line exhibits the space of a third, fifth, or octave. These spaces are filled by passing tones.[1]
Free Composition, Example 4. Fundamental line in relation to the tonic triad. The possible primary tones are shown as whole notes: , or .
The minimal fundamental structure. Primary tone: .
Play .

The primary tone therefore necessarily is one of the higher tones of the tonic chord, , or .

The fundamental line descends from its primary tone to the tonic, :

To man is given the experience of ending, the cessation of all tensions and efforts. In this sense, we feel by nature that the fundamental line must lead downward until it reaches , and the bass must fall back to the fundamental.[2]

Sources
  1. Schenker, Heinrich (1979). Free Composition, § 5.
  2. Schenker (1979), § 10.
gollark: It seems like they seem to claim they're genociding *everyone*, actually?
gollark: Are you familiar with relativistic magnetoapiodynamics?
gollark: And they disagree with people disagreeing.
gollark: Presumably, these are some of the "being obese is fine" people.
gollark: I used to, but the bees making up my computational substrate were replaced with directly manipulated apions for higher clock rate.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.