Tonalcentric

Tonalcentric describes music whose organizing principle is a tonal center or key. Such works establish a home pitch or key and use a hierarchy of pitches and chords around the tonic. While some tonalcentric music remains in a single key, others modulate briefly and then return to the main key to reinforce resolution.

The term is descriptive rather than a formal theory category. It contrasts with atonal or modal-centered music, where no single pitch or key governs the structure. Tonalcentric analysis emphasizes functional harmony and the cadence points that reinforce the home key, as well as the way harmonic progressions and melodic lines orient toward the tonic.

Key features include a clearly established tonic, cadences that reaffirm the key, and functional progressions among tonic, subdominant, and dominant chords. Melodies often emphasize scale degrees that relate to the tonic, and harmonic rhythm supports a sense of directional flow, even when modulations occur.

In practice, the term appears in discussions of Western classical repertoire, some forms of film music, and popular genres that retain tonal gravity despite harmonic color or occasional nonfunctional chords. It provides a lens for describing works that feel rooted in a tonal center, even as they incorporate coloristic effects or extended harmony.

See also tonality, functional harmony, tonal music, modal music, atonality.