Tendency Tone
A scale degree that pulls strongly toward a neighbour and usually resolves by step
Related
A tendency tone is a scale degree with a strong pull: the leading tone pulls up to the tonic, the fourth degree tends down to the third, and a chordal seventh normally resolves downward by step. The ear expects where they will go, and that expectation creates tension.
It need not be a non-chord tone. In a dominant seventh the leading tone and seventh are both chord members, yet both still pull, giving the cadence its close. In minor the leading tone is usually raised to keep the upward pull.
The force lies in semitones and stepwise motion. Resolve it by leap, leave it hanging or send it elsewhere and the expectation is denied; composers use that denial for suspension and surprise. Mark the leading tone, fourth degree and sevenths, then hear whether they move as they tend.
Sources
- 倾向音的定义、调内方向与解决方式，参 The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, "Tendency tone"；本文为原创表述
Used for fact-checking only; all prose is original.