functional harmony

He who has ears to hear, let him hear. In tonal music, that western European style with which (in various levels of complexity) we are all most familiar, every chord has a function. Sometimes I like to refer to the style as functional harmony. The music uses a collection of pitches to produce melody and harmony that refer strongly to a single pitch within the collection. This pitch (and the chord built upon it, the tonic, is essentially “home base” and any melodic or harmonic departure from it creates a tension, or longing in the listener to hear it again.

The basis of the entire western music tradition is created with only seven chords. Of them, of course the tonic (I) is most important. But, of equal importance, is the Dominant (V) chord, built on the fifth scale degree; the path that leads to the goal. This chord functions to “point” to the tonic. The listener, even if he doesn’t realize it, upon hearing the dominant, desires the tonic. All of western music tradition with its constant tension and repose, hinges upon this relationship. Dominant points to tonic. All other chords in the collection serve a “pre-dominant” function. The freedom of using these chords in various ways gives provision for creativity and innovation in a style with such a small palette of sonorities. But in whatever ways they are assembled, they, together, also serve a single function – to point to the dominant. We begin the music with an aural relationship to tonic. We move away from tonic and explore harmonic paths with the pre-dominant chords, but eventually they lead us to the dominant which creates an intense need for repose, or finality that can only be achieved with the tonic.
The interesting paradox is that if tonic is approached by a pre-dominant chord, no finality is accomplished because the ear has not been made to desire it. Its not been called to need the repose. All successful music in the style goes through the process of moving toward dominant so that it can point directly to the tonic.

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