Music is fundamentally abstract, and its interpretation is subjective, so there is no final word on anything. There are many musical traditions, and not all of

Music is fundamentally abstract, and its interpretation is subjective, so there is no final word on anything. There are many musical traditions, and not all of them use those conventions, but classical European harmony is understood as explained in that comment. Edit: here's the canonical [ I IV V7 I ] progression, a.k.a. the [ tonic => sub-dominant => dominant => tonic ] progression in C major: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KFvm1cb80bc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KFvm1cb80bc The progression in the video is more subtle (and it uses a minor mode).