What are Tonic and Dominant?

The first and the fifth degrees of the scale are called tonic and dominant. The tonic and the dominant chords are the triads built on their respective notes of the tonality. A dominant chord is a major triad, even in a minor scale, as the seventh degree of a minor tonality is usually raised by a half step.

The tonic and the dominant are both essential elements of a piece. The tonic gives a sense of stability, whereas the dominant leads to instability which needs to resolve to the tonic. The dominant chord can also appear as a seventh or ninth chord.

As the first degree of the scale, the tonic chord is symbolized by the Roman numeral "I" (in major) or "i" (in minor). The dominant chord is indicated by the Roman numeral "V".

In this example, we have the tonic and the dominant chords in the tonalities of C major and C minor,

C major:
Tonic (I): C-E-G
Dominant (V): G-B-D

C minor:
Tonic (I): C-Eb-G
Dominant (V): G-B-D

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