It must be a minor third from something. That is it must be three half steps away
from some kind of root or tonic that we've established.
So I started wondering if we establish a kind of tonic when we talk and so I
started listening to conversations, listening for pitches, listening to how I
pitched my voice, when I was feeling like I was telling the truth, when I was
uncertain, and so on. And came to the conclusion that, yes
indeed, we seem to establish some kind of a tonic, some kind of a Tonal platform
from which all of our language evolves. we express atonic,[SOUND] my doe happens
to be an a that's, that seems to be my tonic.
an A, at least, today it seems to be a tonic.
When I'm talking in my tonic as I am right now, you may not believe a word I'm
saying. But you know that I believe what I am
saying because I expressing a tonic. How do I do that?
What actually expresses my tonic? It seems to me that m grammatical
functions which we've already talked about in this course.
My gramatical functions, that is to say My articles, the, the, the; my personal
pronouns, I, I, I, I; my, my conjunctions I want, and, and; and my prepositions,
at, to, in, on; that my grammatical functions sort of set the velvet piece of
cloth from which the gems of my meaning Are displayed, and displayed by arrays,
by array, by array, hmm hmm hmm by arrays and pitch.
And that typically our stressed syllables move up the scale from our tonic a third
When we empha, when we empha, when we emphasize perhaps a fifith so that what's
happening when I am on my tonic is that I am literally arpeggiating my tonic with
my stressed and my emphasize syllables. So if we whine in minor
thirds,[INAUDIBLE] we're happy in major thirds, in major, in major third, we're
happy in major thirds. We ask questions in fifths.
Don't we? Yes.
that's fairly interesting. So that's autonic function.
That's our home function. That's our stable function.
Alright, so what if I'm talking to you right here.
What if I, what if, what if I'm,[SOUND] do.
Re, me, fa, fa. see if I'm talking to right here, on the
fourth degree of my scale, here I am on my, if I were talking about harmony,
which I am, if I'm talking about harmony, then this would be the fourth degree of
my scale. Which is an unstable harmonic function.
It's the subdominant function, it's motion away from tonic.
So that when I'm on my fourth degree of my scale it feels like I'm going
somewhere, it feels like I'm moving somewhere.
Like I'm trying to get someplace but you don't know where I'm going to go.
There is no real target set up here. So when I'm on my sub dominant, brethren
and sisteren I want you to, so that it's sort of a preacher thing.
Or it's an auctioneer kind of thing, or it's just really excited and I really got
to tell you this. So that I'm feeling unstable on that
fourth degree of my scale. And once again, my grammatical functions,
my articles, my pronouns, my conjunctions and my prepositions Are setting that
gourth degree tonality and my stressed and emphasized syllables are moving
arrpegiating thirds and fifths and so on away from that tonic and creating the
harmonic function of that fourth degree. [MUSIC] Do, re, mi, fa, so.
There's the 5th degree of my scale. When I'm on the 5th degree of my scale,
the 5th degree of my scale here. It feels a little bit more aggressive.
It feels, it's, it's, it's,[INAUDIBLE] harmony.
It would be the dominant function. The dominant function.
The function that says, I need to go back to the tonic, that one there.
The one that we get a little irritated on.
The one that we get a little angry on. The dom-, I'm dominating you.
it's, they call it the dominant function for a reason.
And, and there it is with, once again. The fifth degree of my scale.
That's the place where my grammatical funcitons are setting it and then I'm
arpeggiating until I finally go back to my tonic.
We threaten each other on the dominant function that is the fifth degree of the
scale below the tonic. Don't you talk to me like that again.
And I remember my I did a tour of New Zealand, and my my guide Chanel Davis,
who has a very, very heavy foot on the accelerator, we're driving down this
street in Auckland, and there was a big red light at a big cross-street, and she
was just barreling along, and and I I knew she hadn't seen the light, so
I[INAUDIBLE] and, and she said I got it, I got it, and she stopped.
And then we, we sole fished were I was, and we figured out I was on the 7th
degree of my scale. The least stable degree that we've got.
The I don't want to die degree. So that this whole sense of listening to
the pitches that your on, is an index, is a key to deciding, line by line, how
you're feeling in that line. How your saying it, with feeling, say it
with feeling, and then see where you are. So as I did in the last in the last
segment. I hear you out there crying.
I hear you out there crying. I hear you out there crying.
I hear you out there crying. That feels like I'm in the subdominant
function, like I'm feeling unstable. I hear you out there crying, begging.
Let me in. You make your way between the cracks I
know your moan, I know your laugh. And so it feels like I'm on[UNKNOWN]
there, that's something I know, that's a fact and so in making phrasing decisions.
