This paper investigates harmonic progressions built around two major chords and one minor chord, all related by step. In many pop/rock songs, these chords can be analyzed as Aeolian progressions—VI, VII, and i—(Moore 1992; Biamonte 2010; Richards 2017a). Recent songs by Bon Iver, The Chainsmokers, and others, however, use chord loops where the harmonies can be interpreted as IV, V, and vi, which I call the plateau loop for its plateau-like activity: a constant hovering above Roman numeral I or i tonic chords, while retaining an overall consistent pitch-based topography. I interrogate the tonality of these songs, advancing the notion of a hybrid tonic. Hybrid tonics occur when a song or song section lacks a salient Ionian or (less often) Aeolian tonic on which both the harmony and melody concur. Instead, IV or (less often) VI or vi chords can function rhetorically as tonic, especially when the chords sound simultaneously with a melodic 1ˆ and occur in a metrically strong position, or initiate a plateau loop. The paper defines plateau loops and hybrid tonics, and explains the theoretical framework that supports them, consulting work by Harrison (1994), Nobile (2016), and Doll (2017) that decouples scale degree from harmonic function. Song examples by The Chainsmokers, Bon Iver, Jónsi, Astrid S., and M83 show how hybrid tonicity operates in varying degrees of prominence in popular music, and can also be contextualized with Spicer’s (2017) theory of fragile, emergent, and absent tonics. By building on prior scholarship, this paper aims to stimulate further inquiry into how tonal structures of recent popular music subtly differentiate themselves from conventions of common-practice tonality. DOI: 10.30535/mto.25.4.3 Volume 25, Number 4, December 2019 Copyright © 2019 Society for Music Theory

中文翻译：

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最近流行音乐中的高原循环和混合滋补品

本文研究了围绕两个大和弦和一个小和弦构建的和声进行，所有和弦都逐步相关。在许多流行/摇滚歌曲中，这些和弦可以作为风神进行分析——VI、VII 和 i——（Moore 1992；Biamonte 2010；Richards 2017a）。然而，Bon Iver、The Chainsmokers 和其他人最近的歌曲使用和弦循环，其中和声可以解释为 IV、V 和 vi，我将其称为高原循环，因为它具有类似高原的活动：在罗马数字上方不断盘旋I 或 i 主音和弦，同时保持整体一致的基于音高的地形。我询问这些歌曲的音调，推进混合主音的概念。当歌曲或歌曲部分缺乏突出的爱奥尼亚语或（较少见的）风神主音时，就会出现混合主音，而这两种主音都与和声和旋律一致。反而，IV 或（不太常见的）VI 或 vi 和弦在修辞上可以起到主音的作用，尤其是当和弦与旋律 1ˆ 同时发声并出现在韵律上的强位置时，或者启动一个平台循环时。该论文定义了高原循环和混合补品，并解释了支持它们的理论框架，参考了 Harrison (1994)、Nobile (2016) 和 Doll (2017) 的工作，这些工作将标度度与谐波函数解耦。The Chainsmokers、Bon Iver、Jónsi、Astrid S. 和 M83 的歌曲示例展示了混合音调如何在流行音乐中以不同的突出程度运作，并且也可以与 Spicer (2017) 的脆弱、紧急和缺席的主音理论相结合. 通过建立在先前的奖学金，本文旨在激发进一步探究最近流行音乐的音调结构如何巧妙地将它们与常见的音调惯例区分开来。DOI: 10.30535/mto.25.4.3 Volume 25, Number 4, December 2019 版权所有 © 2019 Society for Music Theory