We start with a basic fact about melodies and tunes: Melodies nearly always give a sense of focusing around a single “home” pitch that feels more important than all the other pitches of the scale. Usually this is do in the do re mi fa sol la ti do scale (C D E F G A B C). This pitch feels fundamental, and the melody seems to come to rest most naturally on it. The other notes in the melody all sound close or distant, dissonant or consonant, in reference to the fundamental note, and some of them may actually seem to lean or lead toward it.

This homing instinct that we sense in melodies is called tonality. The music in question is described as tonal. The home pitch (do) is called the tonic pitch, or simply the tonic.

The easy way to identify the tonic is to sing the whole melody through, because the last note is almost invariably it. Thus “The Star-Spangled Banner” ends on its tonic, do: “and the home of the brave.” An entire piece of music, as well as just a short melody, can give this feeling of focusing on a home pitch and wanting to end there.