Appendix 3: Musical vocabulary - Tonality — Edexcel GCSE Music

This vocabulary item describes how the notes of a scale or mode relate to one principal note. That principal note is called the tonic in tonal music, or the final in modal music, and it acts as the home note towards which the other notes are heard to lean. The term is broader than key: key usually implies a major or minor system with its tonic, whereas this term also covers modes and other pitch organisations. Even so, the two words are often used as if they meant the same thing, so context decides. To apply it, identify the home note and judge how strongly the other notes pull towards it. A melody that keeps settling on one note, with a mode built around it, demonstrates the concept even without a major or minor key signature.

Tonality describes the sense of a home note or key centre that a piece gravitates towards. When a piece has no such centre, we say it has an absence of tonality, or is atonal. In atonal music no single note or chord feels like 'home', so cadences that would normally confirm a key are avoided or undermined. Composers may use all twelve chromatic pitches freely, treat each with equal weight, and organise music by interval, texture or rhythm instead of by key. A useful test is to ask whether you could name a tonic and a key signature that the music consistently returns to; if not, tonality is absent. Recognising this helps you describe what you hear accurately rather than assuming every piece has a key.

Chromatic notes move by semitones rather than by the whole tones and set patterns of a diatonic scale. A semitone is the smallest step on the keyboard, from one key to the very next, black or white. The specification highlights the case where the move is to a note with the same letter name, for example C rising to C sharp, or B falling to B flat. Such a pair shares a letter name but differs in pitch by one semitone, and the accidental (sharp or flat) signals the chromatic change. Chromatic notes add colour and tension and often pull the music towards a new key. To spot them, track the interval between consecutive notes: a semitone step, especially between same-letter names, marks a chromatic movement.

This term describes a related key lying a perfect 5th above the tonic, or home key, of a piece. The tonic is the home note that gives the key its name. Count up five letter names inclusive and check the interval is a perfect 5th: from G, the notes G–A–B–C–D give D, a perfect 5th above G, so D major is the key a perfect 5th higher than a G major piece. This relationship is the dominant key, and music often moves to it because it shares most notes with the home key but shifts the centre of gravity. To answer, name the home key, count a perfect 5th up from its tonic, and keep the same mode unless told otherwise. Check the example: D is a perfect 5th above G, confirming the definition.

Major–minor tonality is the system in which a piece is organised around a tonic and uses the notes of a major or minor scale. A major scale follows the pattern of tones and semitones that produces a bright, stable sound, while a minor scale uses a different pattern giving a darker colour; the harmonic and melodic forms of minor raise the seventh (and sixth) degree. Tonality depends on more than the key signature: the tonic must be established, often by opening and closing on it and by cadences such as perfect and imperfect. Within this system a piece may modulate to related keys, such as the dominant or relative minor, yet still be heard as major or minor overall. Recognise the tonality by the key signature, the tonic, the scale patterns and the cadences.

Major tonality is built from a major scale, whose defining interval is the major 3rd between scale degree 1 (the tonic) and scale degree 3 (the mediant). In C major, degree 1 is C and degree 3 is E, four semitones apart, giving a major 3rd and a bright, stable sound. To identify a major key by ear or from notation, locate the tonic and count semitones up to the third note of the scale: four semitones confirms a major 3rd. This interval is the clearest single test distinguishing major from minor tonality, because the rest of the scale pattern follows from it. Recognise the term 'major 3rd' as an interval of four semitones, and apply it to any named major key, not only C major.

Minor tonality is built from a minor scale, whose defining interval is the minor 3rd between scale degree 1 (the tonic) and scale degree 3 (the mediant). In A minor, degree 1 is A and degree 3 is C, three semitones apart, giving a minor 3rd and a darker, more reflective sound. To identify a minor key by ear or from notation, locate the tonic and count semitones up to the third note of the scale: three semitones confirms a minor 3rd. This interval is the clearest single test distinguishing minor from major tonality. Recognise the term 'minor 3rd' as an interval of three semitones, and apply it to any named minor key, not only A minor.

A mode is a scale-type that predates modern major and minor scales, so the specification calls modes precursors of modern scales. There are several types of mode, and each type has its own fixed series of tones and semitones, giving a distinct sound even when the same starting note is used. To identify a mode, work out the pattern of whole steps and half steps from the tonic upward and compare it with the known patterns. For example, the Dorian mode on D runs D–E–F–G–A–B–C–D, with a semitone between E and F and between B and C; the Aeolian mode on A matches the natural minor pattern. In a multiple-choice question, test each option by counting the tone and semitone pattern rather than relying on the key signature alone.

A change of key is the move from one tonal centre to another during a piece, so the music stops feeling anchored to the opening key and settles somewhere new. The new key may be closely related, such as the dominant or the relative major or minor, or more distant. The change may be prepared by a pivot chord or a dominant preparation, or arrive abruptly. It may be confirmed by a cadence in the new key, or it may be brief and unstable. Listen for the new tonic and its scale, and check whether the music returns to the original key. Distinguish a change of key from a passing modulation that is quickly reversed, and from modal shift.

A five-note scale is a pentatonic scale: it uses five different pitches rather than the seven of a major or minor scale. The two common forms are built by taking selected degrees of a diatonic scale. The major pentatonic takes degrees 1, 2, 3, 5 and 6 of a major scale, omitting 4 and 7. In C major that gives C, D, E, G, A. The minor pentatonic takes degrees 1, 3, 4, 5 and a flattened 7 of a minor scale, omitting 2 and 6. In A minor that gives A, C, D, E, G. Because the semitone steps that create strong dissonance are left out, pentatonic melodies sound open and are common in folk music and improvisation. To identify one, list the pitches used, arrange them from the tonic, and compare the intervals with these degree patterns.

Relative keys share a key signature but have different tonics. Every major key has a relative minor whose tonic is a minor third (three semitones) below the major tonic; conversely the relative major of a minor key lies a minor third above its tonic. F major and D minor both use one flat (B♭): D is three semitones below F. E minor and G major both use one sharp (F♯): G is three semitones above E. To find a relative minor, count down three semitones from the major tonic and keep the same signature; to find a relative major, count up three semitones from the minor tonic. The two keys sound different because their tonic and scale patterns differ, even though the sharps or flats are identical.