Tonality
Which note a piece gathers around, and the pull that centre creates
Related
Tonality is the pull a piece builds around a central note: the other notes arrange themselves by distance from it, the tonic chord feels most settled, the dominant most eager to return home. To say a piece is "in C major" names both a centre (C) and a mode (major); minor works the same way, and only the two together give a full address — see mode.
A key signature is not a key: C major and A minor share the signature with no sharps or flats, and only the centre and the cadences tell them apart. A piece can also modulate, moving its centre to another note mid-way.
The usual mistake is to equate tonality with a scale. A scale is the material; tonality is the hierarchy among that material — seven notes with no centre are just seven notes.
Read deeper → Tonal Centre · Key Signature
Sources
- 调性为中心音及其等级关系的通行表述（参 The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, "Tonality"）；本文为原创表述
Used for fact-checking only; all prose is original.