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Music vocabulary · Music Theory and Harmony

Tonic

Meaning in music, with examples

nounCommon term

In music, tonic means: The first note of a scale, or the chord built on it, which acts as the main point of rest in a key.

In Turkish: tonik, durak sesi

How it is used

In harmony lessons, distinguish the tonic note from the tonic chord. Players often describe a phrase as returning to the tonic.

Example sentences

  1. Sing the tonic quietly before starting the melody in G major.

    The singer uses G as a reference for finding the other notes of the melody.

  2. The last chord is the tonic, so the ending feels settled.

    Here the word names the home chord that gives the final bars a sense of arrival.

Common collocations

  • tonic note
  • tonic chord
  • return to the tonic
  • keyThe group of notes and chords that a piece is mainly built on, centred on one home note. A song in the key of G major keeps returning to G as its point of rest.
  • scaleA set of notes played in order of pitch, going up or down, that follows a fixed pattern of steps. Scales are the building blocks of melodies and chords.
  • dominant functionThe harmonic role that creates tension and points strongly toward resolution, usually to the tonic chord.

More terms: Music Theory and Harmony

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