By the numbers
How melodies start and end
Short answer
In the 880 major-key songs whose key signature never changes, the vocal melody starts on scale degree 5 in 41.7% of songs, on degree 3 in 32.5% and on the tonic (1) in 18.2%; 75.1% end on the tonic, 10.6% on degree 5 and 8.6% on degree 3. In the 352 minor-key songs the melody starts on 5 in 46.6% and ends on the tonic in 59.4%.
- 41.7%of major-key songs start on degree 5 (367 of 880)
- 75.1%of major-key songs end on the tonic (661 of 880)
- 59.4%of minor-key songs end on the tonic (209 of 352)
Dataset: the first vocal line of 880 major-key and 352 minor-key OpenScore Lieder songs whose key signature does not change. The scale degree of a note is its distance in semitones from the tonic implied by the key signature and an estimated major or minor mode; chromatic notes keep their own label (♭3, ♯4 and so on). Art songs, not pop.
How a melody starts
The dominant (degree 5) is the commonest opening note in both modes (42% of major songs, 47% of minor). In major keys the third degree comes second (32%) and the tonic third (18%); in minor keys the tonic is second (28%) and the minor third third (10%).
How a melody ends
Three major songs in four end their vocal line on the tonic (75%); a further 11% end on the dominant and 9% on the third. In minor keys 59% end on the tonic and 17% on the dominant. Note that the piano can continue after the voice stops, so the voice's last note is not always the last sound of the song.
Which notes does the melody use most?
Across every note of the melody, degree 5 accounts for 18.3% of major-key notes, degree 3 for 15.8% and the tonic for 15.1%; chromatic notes together make up 10.0%.
Hear it
The typical first and last notes in the key of your choice.
Hear the openings and endings
Pick a key. A tonic chord sets the key, then the notes are played one at a time. Synthesised in your browser (no recording).
- Start on 5, end on 1 (major)5 → 1the commonest start and the commonest ending in major keys
- Start on 3, end on 1 (major)3 → 1the second commonest start
- Start and end on 1 (major)1 → 1the third commonest start
- End on 5 instead (major)3 → 511% of major-key songs end on degree 5
- Start on 5, end on 1 (minor)5 → 1the commonest start and ending in minor keys
- Start on ♭3, end on 1 (minor)♭3 → 1the third commonest minor start
- Every degree of the major scale1 2 3 4 5 6 7 1for reference
Songs to check against
Real songs for the commonest patterns, so the claims can be tested against a score.
Real songs for each pattern
Chosen by a fixed rule: composers with a page on this site first, then the composers best represented in the corpus, one song per composer.
Major: starts on 5, ends on 1 (284 songs)
- An die Nachtigall Johannes Brahms (1833–1897)from 4 Gesänge, Op.46
- Abschied Franz Schubert (1797–1828)from Schwanengesang.D.957
- Erôtylon (Chants de la Kitharède, No.2) Augusta Mary Anne Holmès (1847–1903)from Mélodies pour Piano et Chant (Chansons populaires)
- An meinem Herzen, an meiner Brust Robert Schumann (1810–1856)from Frauenliebe und Leben
- Abschied Josephine Lang (1815–1880)from 6 Lieder, Op.13
Major: starts on 3, ends on 1 (217 songs)
- An die Tauben Johannes Brahms (1833–1897)from 9 Lieder und Gesänge, Op.63
- Auflösung, D.807 Franz Schubert (1797–1828)
- Aubade-Habanera Augusta Mary Anne Holmès (1847–1903)from 20 Mélodies
- Der Nussbaum Robert Schumann (1810–1856)from Myrthen, Op.25
Major: ends on degree 5 (93 songs)
- Der Kuss Johannes Brahms (1833–1897)from 5 Poems, Op.19
- Du bist die Ruh Franz Schubert (1797–1828)from Op.59
- L'Aubépine de St. Patrick Augusta Mary Anne Holmès (1847–1903)from Contes divins
- Allnächtlich im Traume Robert Schumann (1810–1856)from Dichterliebe, Op.48
Minor: starts on 5, ends on 1 (104 songs)
- Ach, wende diesen Blick Johannes Brahms (1833–1897)from 8 Lieder und Gesänge, Op.57
- Am Feierabend Franz Schubert (1797–1828)from Die schöne Müllerin (D.795)
- La Haine Augusta Mary Anne Holmès (1847–1903)from Les Sept Ivresses
- Es leuchtet meine Liebe Robert Schumann (1810–1856)from 5 Lieder und Gesänge, Op.127
Scale degrees and the tonic
Excerpts from Wikipedia.
From Wikipedia
Degree (music)
In music theory, the scale degree is the position of a particular note on a scale relative to the tonic—the first and main note of the scale from which each octave is assumed to begin. Degrees are useful for indicating the size of intervals and chords and whether an interval is major or minor.
Source: Wikipedia, “Degree (music)” — CC BY-SA 4.0 — text excerpted; see the article for the full text and authors. Revision of 2026-06-13.
Tonic (music)
Overview
In music, "tonic" refers to the originating note or chord of a particular key.
Importance and function
In music of the common practice period, 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 scale degree above the tonic, or the fourth below it) in between.
Two parallel keys have the same tonic. For example, in both C major and C minor, the tonic is C. However, relative keys (two different scales that share the same key signature) have different tonics. For example, C major and A minor share a key signature that features no sharps or flats, despite having different tonic pitches (C and A, respectively).
Source: Wikipedia, “Tonic (music)” — CC BY-SA 4.0 — text excerpted; see the article for the full text and authors. Revision of 2026-03-10.
How this was counted
- Sample. The first vocal line of every song whose key signature never changes: 880 major and 352 minor songs (the mode is estimated from the notes; the corpus does not record it).
- Scale degree. Semitones above the tonic, where the tonic comes from the key signature and the estimated mode (major: the signature's major key; minor: its relative minor). 0 = degree 1, 7 = degree 5, and so on; a note outside the scale keeps a flat or sharp label.
- First and last note. The first and last sounding notes of the first vocal line, as recorded by the score scan.
- Check. The first-note and last-note counts add up to the number of songs in each mode, and the individual scores re-read for the example lists give exactly the dataset file's counts.
Data used
- OpenScore Lieder Corpus — 1,462 art songs (mostly 19th-century European) transcribed to MusicXML by volunteers; key signatures, time signatures, tempo words, metronome marks, vocal lines and melodies are read directly from the files. CC0 1.0
What these numbers cannot tell you
- The mode of each song is an estimate. Where it is wrong (a minor song counted as major or the reverse), the scale-degree labels are wrong too; this particularly affects the minor-key endings.
- Only 1,232 of the 1,462 songs are in the sample: the 228 songs whose key signature changes, and a few others, are left out, so the sample leans to simpler songs.
- The voice's last note is not always the end of the song: the piano can continue, and some songs end on a note that the voice leaves open. The ending of the whole song is on the cadence page.
- Art songs of mostly the 19th century. Pop, folk and hymn melodies are not measured here.
Checks run each time this page is rebuilt (15)
- major: first-note and last-note counts each add up to 880 songs
- major: the listed first notes and last notes add up to 880
- major: the twelve scale-degree shares add up to 100% (0.9999 vs 1.0)
- major: first and last notes recomputed from the 880 individual scores equal the dataset file
- minor: first-note and last-note counts each add up to 352 songs
- minor: the listed first notes and last notes add up to 352
- minor: the twelve scale-degree shares add up to 100% (1.0 vs 1.0)
- minor: first and last notes recomputed from the 352 individual scores equal the dataset file
- major: 661 songs end on the tonic (0.7511 vs 0.7511363636363636)
- major: 367 songs start on the fifth degree (0.417 vs 0.41704545454545455)
- minor: 209 songs end on the tonic (0.5938 vs 0.59375)
- degree 5 is the commonest first note and the tonic the commonest last note, in both modes
- first-note ranking: major 5, 3, 1; minor 5, 1, ♭3
- last-note ranking: major 1, 5, 3; minor 1, 5
- in major keys degrees 5, 3 and 1 are the commonest melody notes
Data: OpenScore Lieder Corpus (CC0 1.0); Wikipedia (excerpts) (CC BY-SA 4.0). Computed for this site on 2026-10-03; the numbers are counts or shares from the datasets named above, not estimates for music in general. Licences and credits for everything used on this site are on the credits page.