ACCENT AND REGNANT HARMONY 105 



harmony; what I now call the efficient accent was 

 there named the rhythmo-harmonic accent or point. 



1. The evolutionary sequence of ho mo phonic har- 

 monies is a sequence of regnant harmonies which 

 melody brought forth one by one beginning with the 

 regnant Major Tonic, the nucleus in relation to which 

 the others arose. A regnant harmony asserts itself 

 during every moment in melody. The regnant har- 

 mony of the moment selects and asserts itself, it 

 determines the exact harmonic relation of each tone 

 in melody and we all hear it in common. Therefore 

 all melodies are based on regnant harmonies, the 

 simplest on one such harmony (Major Tonic), the 

 more complex on two or more such harmonies. 



2. The efficient accent is the heavy recurring 

 rhythmic accent of melody; it is the principle of 

 harmonic genesis and development in homophony, 

 and has generated one regnant harmony after an- 

 other. The shortest melody consisting of two tones 

 has but one efficient accent: the cuckoo-song is an 

 example. Longer melodies are connected by a series 

 of such accents. As a melody proceeds from one 

 such accent to another one of two things happens: 

 either the initial regnant harmony is maintained and 

 repeated, or a new regnant harmony is generated. We 

 are to study the causes in both cases. Two condi- 

 tions were indispensable to the development of music 

 beyond the stage of one regnant harmony, the Major 

 Tonic. These were first, the lengthening of melody 

 from one efficient accent to a series of such accents; 

 second, the genesis of a second regnant harmony. 



3. The component tones of the regnant harmony 



