tonic
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(tŏn'ĭk) 
n.
n.
- An agent, such as a medication, that restores or increases body tone.
- An invigorating, refreshing, or restorative agent or influence.
- See tonic water.
- Boston. See soft drink.
- Music. The first note of a diatonic scale; the keynote.
- Linguistics. A tonic accent.
- Producing or stimulating physical, mental, or emotional vigor.
- Physiology. Of, relating to, or producing tone or tonicity in muscles or tissue: a tonic reflex.
- Medicine. Characterized by continuous tension or contraction of muscles: a tonic convulsion or spasm.
- Music. Of or based on the keynote.
- Stressed, as a syllable; accented.
[New Latin tonicus, of tension or tone, from Greek tonikos, capable of extension, from tonos, a stretching, tone. See tone.]
tonically ton'i·cal·ly adv.REGIONAL NOTE Generic terms for carbonated soft drinks vary widely in the United States. Probably the two most common words competing for precedence are soda, used in the northeast United States as well as St. Louis and vicinity, and pop, used from the Midwest westward. In the South any soft drink, regardless of flavor or brand name, is referred to as a Coke, cold drink, or just plain drink. Speakers in Boston and its environs have a term of their own: tonic. Such a variety of regional equivalents is unusual for a product for which advertising is so aggressive and universal; usually advertising has the effect of squeezing out regional variants. On the other hand, there are so many types and flavors of soft drinks that perhaps no single generic word has ever emerged to challenge the regionalisms. See Note at dope.
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tonic
Roget's Thesaurus:
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tonic
noun
- A medicine that restores or increases vigor: restorative, roborant. Informal bracer, pick-me-up. See help/harm/harmless.
adjective
- Producing or stimulating physical, mental, or emotional vigor: bracing, energizing, exhilarant, exhilarating, innerving, intoxicating, invigorating, refreshing, reinvigorating, renewing, restorative, roborant, stimulating. See help/harm/harmless.
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A medicinal preparation purporting to increase vigour and liveliness and produce a feeling of wellbeing. Ingredients of tonics include bitters, which are supposed to increase the appetite; minerals, such as iron; and vitamins. Any beneficial effects of tonics, however, are likely to be due to their placebo effect.
| tolvaptan, tolterodine tartrate, tolnaftate | |
| topical, topical steroids, topiramate |
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In the major-minor tonal system, the main note of a key (its key note), after which the key is named; the name of the scale-step or degree of that note; the triad built on that note.
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The key center, or foundation of, a scale or melody.
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Tonic
| For The Record... |
| Members includeEmerson Hart (born on July 21, 1969), lead vocals, rhythm guitar, slide, percussion;Dan Lavery(born on June 11, 1969; joined group 1996), bass, backing vocals;Pete Maloney,session drummer;Dan Rothchild,(left group 1996), bass;Jeff Russo(born on August 31, 1969), rhythm and lead guitars, backing vocals, slide, percussion;Kevin Shepard(left group c. 1999), drums, backing vocals;Jeremy Vogt(born on March 9, 1973), drums. Group formed in Los Angeles, CA, 1994; signed with A&M Records, released Lemon Parade, 1996; released Sugar on Universal, 1999; released Internet-only Live and Enhanced EP, 1999. Awards: Billboard Rock Song of the Year Award, “If You Could Only See, “1997; American, Australian, and Canadian platinum sales certification, Lemon Parade, 1997. Addresses: Record company—Universal Records, 1755 Broadway, New York, NY 10019, phone: (212) 373-0600, fax: (212) 373-0660, website: http://www.universalrecords.com. Website—Official Tonic Website: http://www.tonic-online.com. |
Rock group
The debut album of Los Angeles-based, post-grunge alternative rock group Tonic yielded not only two number one rock singles, but one which was voted the most played song of 1997 by Billboard.A rather impressive track record for a band that emphasizes quality over quantity and was adverse to pandering to the lowest common denominator flavor of the month school of success in the popular music industry. Commenting on this idea, Emerson Hart, lead singer, songwriter, and guitarist said on the official Tonic website, "That’s why I think people respond to our music. It touches an honest chord."
Tonic began as a collaboration between Hart and guitarist and backing vocalist, Jeff Russo. The duo was a pair of East Coast transplants who had known each other since childhood. They began to hone their craft by playing acoustic sets in various coffeehouses in the greater Los Angeles area. They soon added a bassist, Dan Rothchild, and a drummer, Kevin Shepard.
According to the unofficial Tonic website, the new group decided to name themselves Tonic after the musical term representing the beginning chord in a series of chords, or the keynote. Paying its dues and perfecting its craft, Tonic began playing numerous sets and shows in such highly regarded and notable Los Angeles area venues as The Mint, a blues club, and the Kibitz Room at Canter’s Delicatessen.
The band signed with A&M Records and began to work with producer Jack Joseph Puig on what would become their debut album. At Puig’s suggestion, Tonic adopted a more folk-oriented roots based rock approach as they experimented with mandolins and a lap steel guitar. In July of 1996, Tonic released their debut album, Lemon Parade.Not long after this, Rothchild decided to leave the band and was replaced by Dan Lavery, who had previously been the singer, songwriter, bassist with the band True.
Interest in Tonic and Lemon Parade began to build throughout the remainder of 1996 and early 1997. Constant touring with the likes of Iggy Pop, the Verve Pipe and the members of the R.O.A.R Tour helped a great deal. This was also bolstered by the fact that "Casual Affair" and "Open Up Your Eyes," the first two singles from Lemon Parade, were receiving steady airplay on the radio. It was Tonic’s third single, "If You Could Only See," however, that helped to catapult them into heavy rotation in the musical minds of most Americans.
The success of each of the three singles from Lemon Parade topped the one that had preceded it. "Casual Affair" was a top ten rock track while "Open Up Your Eyes" was one of the number one rock singles of 1997. "If You Could Only See" not only held the number one spot on the rock chart, but it also topped the lists for
Modern Rock, Hot Contemporary Hits Radio, and Hot Adult Contemporary, to name a few.
As if this wasn’t impressive enough, "If You Could Only See" earned Tonic the Billboard award for the 1997 Rock Song of the Year. Tonic’s platinum selling debut smash was not limited to America alone. Both Australia and Canada racked up platinum selling sales for Lemon Parade.Despite all of their success, why did Tonic tour over two years behind Lemon Parade? The answer was simple, as Hart said in the Tonic biography on Yahoo! online, "We love getting out there and working hard, and it’s also the best way for us to judge how we’re doing."
Not content to rest on their laurels, Tonic was involved with a number of soundtrack projects in the late 1990s, including contributing tracks to 1997’s Scream 2, 1998’s X-Files Original Soundtrack, and 1999’s American Pie.In 1999, Tonic also released an Internet only Live and Enhanced EP.
During this same time, Tonic began to work on their follow up to Lemon Parade.According to the official Tonic website, the title track for the album Sugar was "the first song the band worked on together. Russo and Lavery brought in some of the music and handed it over to Hart, who added his own parts and lyrics. The result is a rich meaningful rock song that serves as the album’s creative focal point." Hart added, "That song was the true start of our collaborations for this album and that’s why we named the album Sugar.It’s also a tip of the hat to the South because they were so supportive so it has a nice double meaning for us."
Tonic claims that Sugar is much more musically diverse than Lemon Parade.According to the official website, "Tonic’s focus on energetic, honest-to-good-ness songwriting is old school enduring." Hart was also quoted as saying "[Sugar] has a certain openness the last record never had."
Sugar, Tonic’s sophomore effort, was released in November of 1999. Not long after that, Shepard quit the band and was replaced by their drum technician Jeremy Vogt. When asked why they took a different approach to writing and recording their second album, Russo stated on the group’s official website, "We really wanted to experiment on this record with all kinds of arrangements and tones. Every time we recorded something, we’d look at it and try to see what it would sound like if we did the opposite. It was a process that we had to go through to make sure our instincts about the record were correct." Lavery added, "We put it together; we wrote it and produced it. We made sure we liked it. If everybody else loves it, great. If not, at least we do. And we can live with that."
Selected discography
Lemon Parade (includes "Casual Affair," "Open Up Your Eyes," and "If You Could Only See"), A&M, 1996.
(Contributor) Scream 2 (soundtrack), Capitol, 1997.
(Contributor) X-Files Original Soundtrack, Elektra/Asylum, 1998.
(Contributor) American Pie (soundtrack), Uptown/Universal, 1999.
Live and Enhanced (EP), Internet only, 1999.
Sugar, Universal, 1999.
Sources
All Music Guide, http://www.allmusic.com (January 25, 2001).
"Lemon Drops-The Official Tonic Faqs (unofficial Tonic website)," http://www.keynote-tonic.rockpages.org (January 25, 2001).
"Tonic Bio," http://www.tonic-online.com/bio.html">http://www.tonic-online.com/bio.html (January 30, 2001).
Tonic Official Website, http://www.tonic-online.com (January 30, 2001).
"Yahoo! Music, Tonic Biography," http://www.musicfinder.yahoo.com/shop?d=hc&id=1802396795&cf+11 (January 25,2001).
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1. producing and restoring normal tone.
2. characterized by continuous tension.
3. a patent medicine dedicated to the restoration of normal ‘tone’ to bodily functions generally. Usually a pharmaceutical rag-bag of stimulants, aromatics and alcohol, the paramount example of polypharmacy.
Random House Word Menu:
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categories related to 'tonic'
- PHARMACOLOGY - tonic: healing, soothing, or invigorating agent
- Harmony, Melody, and Structure - tonic: first note of a scale
- Phonetics - tonic: syllable in an utterance having principal stress, usu. accompanied by change in pitch
- Helpful, Positive, Responsible, or Nice
See crossword solutions for the clue Wikipedia on Answers.com:
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Tonic (music)
in C 
In music, the tonic is the first scale degree of the diatonic scale and the tonal center or final resolution tone.[4] The triad formed on the tonic note, the tonic chord, is thus the most significant chord. More generally, the tonic is the pitch upon which all other pitches of a piece are hierarchically referenced.
In very much conventionally tonal music, harmonic analysis will reveal a broad prevalence of the primary (often triadic) harmonies: tonic, dominant, and subdominant (i.e., I and its chief auxiliaries a 5th removed), and especially the first two of these.—Berry (1976)[5]
The tonic is often confused with the root, which is the reference note of a chord, rather than that of the scale. It is also represented with the Roman numeral I.
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Importance and function
In western European tonal music of the 18th and 19th centuries, the tonic center was the most important of all the different tone centers which a composer used in a piece of music, with most pieces beginning and ending on the tonic, usually modulating to the dominant (the fifth above the tonic, or the fourth note down from the tonic) in between.
The tonic remains the same in both major and minor keys, compared to other scale degrees such as the third degree (mediant) and the sixth degree (submediant). For example, in both C major and C minor, the tonic is C. Keys that share key signatures (i.e. relative keys) however have different tonics. For example, C major and A minor share a key signature that feature no sharps or flats despite containing different tonic pitches, C and A, respectively.
Tonic may be reserved exclusively for use in tonal contexts while tonal center and/or pitch center may be used in post- and atonal music: "For purposes of non-tonal centric music, it might be a good idea to have the term 'tone center' refer to the more general class of which 'tonics' (or tone centers in tonal contexts) could be regarded as a subclass."[6] Thus a pitch center may function referentially or contextually in an atonal context, often acting as axis or line of symmetry in an interval cycle.[7] Pitch centricity was coined by Arthur Berger in his "Problems of Pitch Organization in Stravinsky".[8]
The tonic diatonic function includes four separate activities or roles as the principal goal tone, initiating event, generator of other tones, and the stable center neutralizing the tension between dominant and subdominant.
Other scale degrees
Play (help·info)After tonic, the names of the remaining scale degrees (of a diatonic scale) in order are as follows:
supertonic — second scale degree (the scale degree immediately "above" the tonic);
mediant — third scale degree (the "middle" note of the tonic triad);
subdominant — fourth scale degree (a fifth "below" the tonic);
dominant — fifth scale degree (the most "pronounced" harmonic note after the tonic);
submediant — sixth scale degree (the "middle" note of the subdominant triad);
leading tone (or leading note) — seventh scale degree (the scale degree that "leads" to the tonic, this is also referred to as subtonic);
subtonic - also seventh scale degree, but applying to the lowered 7th found in the natural minor scale.
See also
References
- ^ Benward & Saker (2003). Music: In Theory and Practice, Vol. I, p.229. Seventh Edition. ISBN 978-0-07-294262-0.
- ^ a b Benward & Saker (2003), p.230.
- ^ Berg, Shelly (2005). Alfred's Essentials of Jazz Theory, Book 3, p.90. ISBN 978-0-7390-3089-9.
- ^ Benward & Saker (2003), p.33.
- ^ Berry, Wallace (1976/1987). Structural Functions in Music, p.62. ISBN 0-486-25384-8.
- ^ Berger (1963), p. 12. cited in Swift, Richard. "A Tonal Analog: The Tone-Centered Music of George Perle", p.258. Perspectives of New Music, Vol. 21, No. 1/2, (Autumn, 1982 - Summer, 1983), pp. 257-284.
- ^ Samson, Jim (1977). Music in transition: a study of tonal expansion and atonality, 1900-1920. New York City: W. W. Norton & Company. ISBN 0-393-02193-9. OCLC 3240273.[page needed]
- ^ Berger, Arthur (Fall/Winter 1963). "Problems of Pitch Organization in Stravinsky". Perspectives of New Music 2 (1): 11–42. doi:10.2307/832252. JSTOR 832252.
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Translations:
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Tonic
Dansk (Danish)
n. - stimulans, styrkende middel, opstrammer
adj. - stimulerende, styrkende, opstrammende, tone-
idioms:
- tonic water tonic
Nederlands (Dutch)
tonic (water), tonicum, grondtoon
Français (French)
n. - schweppes, (Méd, fig) remontant tonique, plein d'entrain, (Mus) tonique, (Ling) (syllabe) tonique
adj. - tonique
idioms:
- tonic water eau tonique, tonic, Schweppes
Deutsch (German)
n. - Tonic, Tonikum, Stärkungsmittel, Grundton, Tonika
adj. - tonisch, stärkend
idioms:
- tonic water Tonic
Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - τονωτικό (φάρμακο κ.λπ.), δυναμωτικό, (μουσ.) τονική
adj. - τονωτικός, δυναμωτικός
idioms:
- tonic water τόνικ γουότερ, ανθρακούχο μεταλλικό νερό με κινίνη
Italiano (Italian)
acqua tonica, tonico, tonica
idioms:
- tonic water acqua tonica
Português (Portuguese)
n. - reconstituinte (m), fortificante (m)
adj. - tônico (m), reconstituinte (m)
idioms:
- tonic water água tônica (f)
Русский (Russian)
укрепляющее средство, тонизирующее лекарство
idioms:
- tonic water тонизирующий напиток
Español (Spanish)
n. - tónica, tónico, dominante
adj. - tónico, tonificante, vigorizador
idioms:
- tonic water agua tónica, aguaquina
Svenska (Swedish)
n. - tonic, tonikum, stärkande medel, tonika, grundton (mus.)
adj. - stärkande, uppfriskande, tonisk, ihållande (med.), tonisk (mus.)
中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
补药, 主音, 生发水, 浊音, 滋补的, 强直的, 使人精神振奋的, 声调的
idioms:
- tonic water 奎宁苏打水, 开胃水
中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 補藥, 主音, 生髮水, 濁音
adj. - 滋補的, 強直的, 使人精神振奮的, 聲調的
idioms:
- tonic water 奎寧蘇打水, 開胃水
한국어 (Korean)
n. - 강장제, 주음, 주요한 양음
adj. - 튼튼하게 하는, 주음의, 강세가 있는
日本語 (Japanese)
n. - 強壮剤, 養毛剤, 元気づけるもの, 主音, トニック
adj. - 強壮にする, 元気づける, 主音の
idioms:
- tonic water キニーネ水
العربيه (Arabic)
(الاسم) دواء مقوي أو منشط (صفه) منشط, مقو, توتري
עברית (Hebrew)
n. - סם חיזוק, טוניק, מותח שרירים, מרענן, מחזק, השלב הראשון בסולם מוסיקלי המהווה את טון היסוד של יצירה
adj. - מותח שרירים, מרענן, מחזק, השלב הראשון בסולם מוסיקלי המהווה את טון היסוד של יצירה
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