A double tonic is a

chord progression In a musical composition, a chord progression or harmonic progression (informally chord changes, used as a plural, or simply changes) is a succession of chords. Chord progressions are the foundation of harmony in Western musical tradition from ...

melodic motion Melodic motion is the quality of movement of a melody, including nearness or farness of successive pitches or notes in a melody. This may be described as conjunct or disjunct, stepwise, skipwise or no movement, respectively. See also contrapun ...

, or shift of level consisting of a "regular back-and-forth motion" in

melody A melody (), also tune, voice, or line, is a linear succession of musical tones that the listener perceives as a single entity. In its most literal sense, a melody is a combination of Pitch (music), pitch and rhythm, while more figurativel ...

similar to

Bruno Nettl Bruno Nettl (March 14, 1930 – January 15, 2020) was an American ethnomusicologist and academic of Czech birth. A central figure of ethnomusicology, he was among the discipline's most influential scholars. Nettl's research interests varied wi ...

's pendulum type though it uses small intervals, most often a

whole tone In Western music theory, a major second (sometimes also called whole tone or a whole step) is a second spanning two semitones (). A second is a musical interval encompassing two adjacent staff positions (see Interval number for more deta ...

though may be almost a

semitone A semitone, also called a minor second, half step, or a half tone, is the smallest musical interval commonly used in Western tonal music, and it is considered the most dissonant when sounded harmonically. It is defined as the interval between ...

to a

minor third In music theory, a minor third is a interval (music), musical interval that encompasses three half steps, or semitones. Staff notation represents the minor third as encompassing three staff positions (see: interval (music)#Number, interval numb ...

(see pendular thirds). van der Merwe, Peter (1989). ''Origins of the Popular Style: The Antecedents of Twentieth-Century Popular Music'', p.205. Oxford: Clarendon Press. . It is extremely common in

African music The continent of Africa is vast and its music is diverse, with different regions and nations having many distinct musical traditions. African music includes the genres like makwaya, highlife, mbube, township music, jùjú, fuji, jaiva ...

("Mkwaze mmodzi"),

Asian music Asian music encompass numerous musical styles, traditions, and forms originating in Asian countries. Asian music traditions include: * ** Music of China ** Music of Hong Kong ** Music of Japan ** Traditional music of Korea *** Music of Nor ...

, and European music, including:van der Merwe (1989), p.206 * European Middle Ages music such as "

Sumer is Icumen in "Sumer is icumen in" is the incipit of a medieval English round or of the mid-13th century; it is also known variously as the Summer Canon and the Cuckoo Song. The line translates approximately to "Summer has come" or "Summer has arrived". ...

" * Elizabethan popular music such as " The Woods so Wild" and " Dargason" *

Classical music Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be #Relationship to other music traditions, distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical mu ...

featuring the regular alternation of tonic-dominant *Alternating ' discords' such as in

Debussy Achille Claude Debussy (; 22 August 1862 – 25 March 1918) was a French composer. He is sometimes seen as the first Impressionism in music, Impressionist composer, although he vigorously rejected the term. He was among the most influe ...

Stravinsky Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky ( – 6 April 1971) was a Russian composer and conductor with French citizenship (from 1934) and American citizenship (from 1945). He is widely considered one of the most important and influential composers of ...

*Gustav Mahler has also used this kind of musical pendulum motion *"

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

" and European music such as " Donald MacGillavry" *

Sea shanties A sea shanty, shanty, chantey, or chanty () is a genre of traditional folk song that was once commonly sung as a work song to accompany rhythmical labor aboard large merchant sailing vessels. The term ''shanty'' most accurately refers to a sp ...

and other

work song A work song is a piece of music closely connected to a form of work, either one sung while conducting a task (usually to coordinate timing) or one linked to a task that may be a connected narrative, description, or protest song. An example is " I ...

s such as "

Drunken Sailor "Drunken Sailor", also known as "What Shall We Do with a/the Drunken Sailor?" or "Up She Rises", is a traditional sea shanty, listed as List of folk songs by Roud number, No. 322 in the Roud Folk Song Index. It was sung aboard sailing ships at ...

", "Roun' de Corn, Sally", and "Shallow Brown", and in *

Football chant A football chant or terrace chant is a form of vocalisation performed by supporters of association football, typically during football matches. Football chanting is an expression of collective identity, most often used by fans to express their ...

s such as: In American music, a rare example of a double-tonic is the spiritual "Rock my Soul" though American popular music began to use the double tonic commonly in the last half of the 1900s, including

Beck Beck David Hansen (born Bek David Campbell; July 8, 1970), known mononymously as Beck, is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer. He rose to fame in the early 1990s with his Experimental music, experimental and Lo-fi mus ...

's " Puttin It Down".Beck - Puttin It Down tab
, ''GuitareTab.com''. Double tonic patterns may be classified as beginning on the lower ("Sumer is Icumen in", "The Woods so Wild", " The Irish Washerwoman") or upper (most Scottish tunes, passamezzo antico, "Roun' de Corn, Sally", "Shallow Brown", "Mkwaze mmodzi")

note Note, notes, or NOTE may refer to: Music and entertainment * Musical note, a pitched sound (or a symbol for a sound) in music * ''Notes'' (album), a 1987 album by Paul Bley and Paul Motian * ''Notes'', a common (yet unofficial) shortened versi ...

and may repeat open endedly, though they are often closed through a tonic close, as in :van der Merwe (1989), p.207 Am, G, Am-G, Am, , They are also often varied through a binary scheme ending on the dominant then tonic, as in: Am, G, Am, E, , Am, G, Am-G, Am, , or, Am, G, Am, E, , Am, G, Am-E, Am, , A variation of this last progression is the

passamezzo antico The passamezzo antico is a ground bass or chord progression that was popular during the Italian Renaissance and known throughout Europe in the 16th century.Peter van der Merwe (musicologist), van der Merwe, Peter. 1989. ''Origins of the Popular S ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Double Tonic Chord progressions Melodic motion