[MUSIC PLAYING]

What is a tonal center?

Tonal center is that predominant tone that you
hear when you're playing a progression or when you're playing a song.
It's like ground zero.
It's like the anchor note that's played or that's heard.
So the tune that I played just a second ago, in the key of C.
[MUSIC PLAYING]

That tone right there, that note, that tone,

that's the note you kind of hear that keeps coming back.
[MUSIC PLAYING]

[HUMS TONAL CENTER]

See how everything gravitates back to that?

That is our tonal center, the center of what we are doing.
Tonal center.
So if I played a song like this.
[MUSIC PLAYING]

The tonal center there would be--

[HUMS TONAL CENTER]

The center of the tone.

The center of all that we are doing, the tonal center, the key that we are in.
[MUSIC PLAYING]

[HUMS TONAL CENTER] The tonal center.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

Sing me the tonal center here.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

That would be tonal center.

How about this one?
[MUSIC PLAYING]

Where's our tonal center at?

[HUMS TONAL CENTER]
That would be our tonal center.
How about this song?
[MUSIC PLAYING]

Where's our tonal center?

Right there.
That's the key that the song is in, the tonal center.
OK?
So what is the tonal center?
The key that the song is in.
To help me explain this even further are some of my beloved Berklee
College of Music students.
And I want to ask them to introduce themselves,
because you're going to see them sporadically throughout the course.
Hi, I'm Courtney.
I'm from Tampa, Florida.
I'm a music business marketing major and I'm a vocalist.
HI, I'm Grace.
I'm from Singapore.
And I'm a piano principal and a music therapy major.
Hi, my name's Janae.
I am from St. Louis, Missouri.
I'm a vocalist, and my major is songwriting.
Hi, my name is Juliana.
I'm from Lynn, Massachusetts.
My major is professional music and I am a vocalist.
Hi, my name's George.
I'm from Boston.
My major is music education, and my principal instrument is voice.
So there you have it, my Berklee all-stars.
So what I'd like to do now is I'm going to play a song.
It'll be a short song.
And I'm going to ask them to sing the tonal center, OK?
You can try it also.
But they're going to sing the tonal center, and when I point to you guys,
that's when I want you to sing.
I'll try to do it right at the beginning of a measure, OK?
[MUSIC PLAYING]

[SINGING TONAL CENTER]

[SINGING TONAL CENTER]

Good job.
Let's do another one now.
[MUSIC PLAYING]

[SINGING TONAL CENTER]

[SINGING TONAL CENTER]

Ooh, that would be the tonal center.
Let's do another one.
[MUSIC PLAYING]

Let me hear it.

[SINGING TONAL CENTER]

One more time.

[SINGING TONAL CENTER]

So another way to say tonal center is what key are we in?

Here we were in the key of D-flat.
This would be C. Tonal center.
The center of the tone, where everything kind of goes back to.
OK?
That is what a tonal center is.
So we're talking about tonal centers here.
And you notice that these students were able to pick up
the tonal center very quickly.
Now one thing that helped them was they identified that tone
that seemed to work with every chord that was being played,
that predominant sound that you were hearing.
So if I'm playing in the key of C, that will be my tonal center.
You'll hear that sound.
[MUSIC PLAYING]

It seems to work with every chord.

So when you're trying to recognize what key a song is in,
or what is the tonal center for that song, that's what you want to focus in,
that note that seems to fit every chord that's being played.
Because a little later on, I'm going to give you
an assignment that's going to see if you can figure out
the tonal center for a number of songs.
Perhaps in the key of C, since that's what we're talking about,
they key of C. All right?
Tonal centers.