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6.6.7 Melodic Direction and the Dominant Scale Degree
In melody, as you move up the scale, from scale degree 1 to 2 to 3, and so on, your brain senses a feeling melodic direction, a feeling of “going away”—paddling against the current— until you reach scale degree 5, the dominant scale degree.
Then, as you continue in the same direction (away from scale degree 1), you sense that the current has reversed itself. And you find yourself somehow paddling with the current, even though you haven’t turned around. Scale degree 5 was an inflection point.
It’s the current that reverses, not you. The current even carries you home. But it’s not the same home you left. Instead of “home” being scale degree 1, it’s scale degree 1 (8). Yet your brain still perceives 1 (8) as “home.” That’s the important thing (Figure 49 below).
Your brain has evolved to expect complex frequency ratios to resolve to simpler frequency ratios. And what’s the simplest? The tonic note of the octave: scale degree 1, or scale degree 1 (8).