40 THE NATURE OF MUSIC 



24. Harmonic Evolution, The Major Tonic 



The evolution of music's harmonies beginning with 

 the genesis of the major consonance is a psychological 

 process as beautiful as it is simple. Harmonies have 

 succeeded each other one by one in an orderly and 

 clearly traceable sequence of antecedents and conse- 

 quents, perhaps the only complete sequence of any 

 kind thus far presenting itself to psychology and there- 

 fore of importance to that science. Apart from origi- 

 nal harmony in one voice and its inherent principles 

 this evolutionary sequence of harmonies could not be 

 traced. Why ? Because harmony in one voice asserts 

 itself and its reports are common reports and it ex- 

 cludes the personal equation. When we consider that 

 there is such an evolutionary sequence and that the 

 first series of harmonies in this sequence is repeated 

 nolens volens in every developing musical mind, we 

 readily realize the signal importance of this sequence 

 alike to the science and history of music and to music- 

 education. The harmonies of the individual tones in 

 the above melodies are latent in all of us, each tone 

 being a harmonic complex containing elementary 

 harmonics or concomitants. We have seen that an 

 isolated tone at first appears to be a single tone, that 

 later we discover it to be a complex of root, third and 

 fifth. This third and fifth were always present in the 

 tone as elementary harmonics or concomitants. A 

 tone without concomitants does not exist. This third 

 and fifth were therefore latent in feeling and eventu- 

 ally they were perceived and differentiated, whereupon 

 they were expressed in melody and together with 



