A level, also "tonality level", Gerhard Kubik's "tonal step," "tonal block," and John Blacking's "root progression, This shift can occur to both neighboring notes, in either direction, and from any point of departure. The steps above and below the tonic are often called contrasting steps. A new harmonic segment is created which then changes the tonality but not necessarily the key. Semitonal and hemitonal root progressions can also be found. Tonality levels or "root progression" are the most important structural feature found in African folk music. The tonality level often shifts several times making it very hard to find a piece of African folk music without tonality levels. Levels can be compared to a traditional root progression in western music with a tonic – subdominant – dominant relationship. Levels give way to familiar classical chords and chord changes in Baroque music. In the twentieth century, chords give way to levels in the blues, completed with the V-IV-I progression, which spread to all popular music. For instance, In the blues – influenced style, the boogie-woogie bass, levels occur in shifts from primary triads rather than neighboring tones.
See also
- Phrase modulation
- Theory of levels