subtonicadj.n.

1803 C. Hutton tr. J. Ozanam & J. E. Montucla Recreations in Math. & Nat. Philos. II. v. ix. 426 The sharps are generally given by the major mode, and even by the minor, provided the subtonic note [Fr. la sous-tonique] is not distant from the tonic more than a semitone major.

1871 J. Stainer Theory of Harmony iii. 11 The musical value of the subtonic as a note which has a natural tendency to ascend to the tonic..has involved the necessity for a subtonic harmony or chord.

1918 C. E. Gardner Music Composition 49 The subtonic seventh chord is the mildest dissonant seventh chord of the major mode.

1975 Musical Q. 61 536 The indication ‘un poco accel.’ marks the climactic reiteration on the subtonic harmony.

2001 J. T. Titon Old-time Kentucky Fiddle Tunes 86 A play-party song whose spare tune, with its prominent subtonic note, is related to..‘Fire on the Mountain’.

1827 J. Rush Philos. Human Voice iii. 54 The next division includes a number of sounds, possessing..properties analogous to those of the tonics; but differing in degree... I have called them Subtonic sounds.

1827 J. Rush Philos. Human Voice iii. 54 Some of the subtonic vocalities are purely nasal, as: m, n, ng, b, d, g.

1882 E. Brooks Man. Elocution & Reading 24 Drill in the following subtonic combinations: bd, robbed. ndz, hounds [etc.].

1955 R. D. T. Hollister Speaking before Audience x. 209 It should be noted that the th in thin is atonic, while the th in then is subtonic.

1906 J. C. Bose Plant Response as Means of Physiol. Investig. xli. 573 When the specimen is..in a sub-tonic condition, absorption of energy in any form from outside will, at first, by increasing the internal energy, serve to accelerate growth.

1929 J. C. Bose Growth & Tropic Movements of Plants 81 By the action of the stimulus of light itself a subtonic organ is raised to the condition of par.

1817 T. Busby Dict. Music (new ed.) Sub-Tonic, the semitone immediately below the Tonic.

1887 J. M. Wood Graham's Pop. Songs Scotl. (Balmoral ed.) 23 The first two bars throw the air at once into a minor key, and the next two bars pass to the subtonic of that key.

1908 L. J. de Bekker Stokes' Encycl. Music & Musicians 163/1 A diminished triad consists of two thirds on the subtonic.

1992 Music Anal. 11 70 It is the only example that emphasizes the subtonic as a neighbour to the tonic.

2006 Evening Standard (Nexis) 6 Feb. 39 The music was as peccably inauthentic as I'd remembered, with no drones or flattened subtonics, just a meek fiddler and a school assembly-style piano banging out hymnbook diatonic harmonies.

1827 J. Rush Philos. Human Voice iii. 56 This vocality of the subtonics..is variously modified by the nose, tongue, teeth and lips.

1884 New Englander (New Haven, Connecticut) Sept. 633 His [sc. James Rush's] enumeration of the alphabetic elements embraced twelve tonic sounds, fourteen subtonics, and nine atonics.

1933 High School Jrnl. 16 230 Sounds originating in the vocal chords are called voiced sounds... If they are considerably obstructed, they are called voiced consonants or subtonics.

1955 R. D. T. Hollister Speaking before Audience x. 209 Some of the subtonics are very short in the duration of the shut-in tone. These are b, d, g, and j.

1908 J. C. Bose in Electr. Engineer 9 Oct. 522/2 When the tissue is in a state of subtonicity on the one hand, or of fatigue on the other, the sign of normal response is apt to be reversed.

1929 J. C. Bose Growth & Tropic Movements of Plants 82 An organ falls to a condition of extreme subtonicity when it is maintained for a long time under unfavourable conditions.