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Tonality, then, may be defined in various ways:
Jim Samson (1977) clarifies between "the principle of tonality", "the requirement that all the events in a musical group should be co-ordinated by, and experienced in relation to, a central point of reference," and "tonality" as "the specific language of 'classical tonality'--the major-minor key system of the Classical and Romantic periods."
Many of the terms and symbols necessary to analyze tonal organization follow below.
In the vast majority of tonal music pitches generally conform to one of four specific seven note scales: major, natural minor, melodic minor, and harmonic minor. The major scale predominates and melodic minor contains nine pitches (seven with two alterable). The basic seven notes of a scale are notated in the key signatureIn musical notation, a key signature is a series of sharp symbols or flat symbols placed on the staff, designating notes that are to be played sharp or flat unless otherwise noted with an accidental. Key signatures are generally written immediately after, and whether the piece is in the major or minor is either stated in the title, or implied in the piece. While other scales and modes are used in tonal music, particularly after 1890, these two are the scales which are considered the most normal. In notationMusic notation is a system of writing for music. The term sheet music is used for written music to distinguish from audio recordings. In sheet music for ensembles, a score shows music for all players together, while parts contain only the music played by, each note or degree of the scale is often designated by a Roman numeral, or less commonly solfegeIn music and sight singing solfege is a way of assigning syllables to degrees or steps of the diatonic scale. In order, they are: Do, Re, Mi, Fa, Sol, La, Ti, and Do (for the octave). The origin of Solfege was a pedagogical technique created by Guido of A:
| Function | Roman Numeral | Solfege |
| Tonic | I | Do |
| SupertonicDiatonic functions Scale degrees In music or music theory, the supertonic is the second degree of the scale, it is the second note of a diatonic scale. For example, in the C major scale (white keys on a piano), the mediant is the note D; and the supertoni | II | Re |
| Mediant | III | Mi/Mé |
| Sub-Dominant | IV | Fa |
| Dominant | V | So |
| Sub-Mediant | VI | La/Le |
| Leading/ Subtonic | VII | Ti/Te |
Thus "I" describes the tonic chord at a given time.
Chords, all triads, are also built upon, in a tertian manner, and named by the scale degree which acts as their root. Chords are then further named according to their quality or makeup, determined by the scale notes which lie a third and fifth (two thirds) above the degree a chord is built upon. If minor the numeral is lower-case, if major, upper-case, and other chords are designated in other ways. Quality is generally not as important as the chord's root.
The degree of a scale is both the pitch of that note and that pitch's diatonic function, which is why chords are named by scale degree. Thus the notes of a chord do not have to be sounded simultaneously, and one to two notes may function as a three or more note chord. Thus a chord described as "V" is based on the fifth note of the prevailing tonic scale. In C Major, that would be a triad based on G, and would be the G Major triad.
To describe a chord progression, the Roman numerals of the chords are listed. Thus IV-V-I describes a chord progression of a chord based on the fourth note of a scale, then one based on the fifth note of the scale, and then one on the first note of the scale. Capital Roman numerals refer to the major chord, and lower-case Roman numerals refer to the minor chord. This means that in the traditional major scale, the ii, iii and vi are minor chords, where as I, IV, V are major. The chord on the seventh note is a diminished triad and is written vii. Numbers attached to a chord indicate additional notes, one of the most important chords in tonal harmony is the V7 chord which is a four note chord that includes the fourth note of the tonic scale. The "7" refers to a note seven diatonic steps up from the fundamental note of the chord, not the seventh note of the tonic scale.
The traditional form of tonal music begins and ends on the tonic of the piece, and many tonal works move to a closely related key, such as the dominant of the main tonality. Establishing a tonality is traditionally accomplished through a cadence which is two chords in succession - the most common being V7-I cadence. Other cadences are considered to be less powerful. The cadences determines the form of a tonal piece of music, and the placement of cadences, their preparation and establishment as cadences, as opposed to simply chord progressions, is central to the theory and practice of tonal music.
Most tonality is "functional harmony", which is a term used to describe music where changes in the predominate scale or additional notes to chords are explainable by their place in stabilizing or destabilizing a tonality. This is a complex way of saying that it is possible to explain why a particular note was included, and what that note means in relation to the tonic chord. Harmony with a large number of notes which do not have clear structural function is called "nonfunctional" harmony, which is not to imply "dysfunctional", but merely that the additional notes are not to be played or heard as restricting or advancing the harmonic progression.
In the context of tonal organization a chord or a note is said to be "consonant" when it implies stability, and "dissonant" when it implies instability. This is not the same as the ordinary use of the words consonant and dissonant. A dissonant chord is in tension against the tonic, and implies that the music is distant from that tonic chord. "Resolution" is the process by which the harmonic progression moves from dissonant chords to consonant chords and follows counterpoint or voice leading. Voice leading is a description of the "horizontal" movement of the music, as opposed to chords which are considered the "vertical".
In the common forms of tonal organization, since a chord has a relationship to the tonic, which note is its fundamental note is set, not by which note is played lower than the others, but by which note establishes the chord's relationship to the tonic. This means that chords are said to be "inverted" when this fundamental note is not sounded the lowest. For example in C Major C-E-G is the tonic chord. If C is not the lowest note played, it is said to be in "inversion". The first inversion would be E-G-C, and the second inversion would be G-C-E.
To summarize, traditional tonal music is described in terms of a scale of notes. On that scale are built chords. Chords in order form a progression. Progressions establish or deny a particular chord as being the tonic chord. The cadence is held to be the sequence of chords which establishes one chord as being the tonic chord, more powerful cadences create a greater sense of closure and a stronger sense of key. Chords have a function when it can be explained how they lead the music towards or away from a particular tonic chord. When the sense of which tonic chord is changed, the music is said to have "changed key" or "modulated". The vocabulary of Roman numerals and numbers is used to describe the relationship of a particular chord to the tonic chord.
The techniques of accomplishing this process, are the subject of tonal music theory and compositional practice.
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