Weeks 3-4 · ear
Hear a phrase. Find where it wants to rest.
What’s a tonic?
The tonicis a melody’s home note. In do-re-mi-fa-sol, it’s do. In any major key, it’s the first note of the scale. Every melody pulls back to it — even if it ends on a different note, your ear hears the unfinished tension and wants resolution to home.
In C major: tonic is C. In G major: tonic is G. The cue tells you which key — your job is hearing where home is.
Why this comes after the prereqs
- Vocal pitch match taught you to hear two notes as the same or different.
- Short sing-back taught you to hold a melody in working memory long enough to compare.
- Keyboard landmarks taught you to find any white key fast.
- Tonic finding combines all three: hear → remember → match on the keys.
Each trial plays a I–V–I cadence first (chord-chord-chord) — that anchors the key in your ear. Then a 4-note melody plays and ends on a note that isn’thome. Click the key on the piano that feels like home. Octave doesn’t matter — any C lands the C-tonic.
8 phrases. Hit 7 to pass. If you guess wrong, the answer plays so you can recalibrate.