Major and Minor Scales
| Degree | Name | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | Tonic | Tonal center, note of final resolution |
| 2nd | Supertonic | One step above the tonic |
| 3rd | Mediant | Midway between tonic and dominant |
| 4th | Subdominant | Lower dominant |
| 5th | Dominant | 2nd in importance to the tonic |
| 6th | Submediant | Lower mediant, halfway between tonic and subdominant |
| 7th | Leading tone | Melodically strong affinity for and leads to tonic |
| 8th | Subtonic | One whole step below tonic |
The degrees of the traditional major and minor scales may be identified several ways:
- the first, second, (major or minor) third, fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh degrees of the scale;
- by Arabic numerals (1, 2, 3, 4 ...), sometimes with carets above them ;
- by Roman numerals (I, II, III, IV ...); and
- in English, by the names and function: tonic, supertonic, mediant, subdominant, dominant, submediant, leading note (leading tone in the United States) and tonic again.
- These names are derived from a scheme where the tonic note is the 'center'. Supertonic and subtonic are, respectively, one step above and one step below the tonic; mediant and submediant are each a third above and below the tonic, and dominant and subdominant are a fifth above and below the tonic.
- Subtonic is used when the interval between it and the tonic in the upper octave is a whole step; leading note when that interval is a half step.
- in English, by the "moveable Do" Solfege system, which allows a person to name each scale degree with a single syllable while singing.
Read more about this topic: Degree (music)
Famous quotes containing the words major, minor and/or scales:
“You should hurry up ... and acquire the cigar habit. It’s one of the major happinesses. And so much more lasting than love, so much less costly in emotional wear and tear.”
—Aldous Huxley (1894–1963)
“A child who fears excessive retaliation for even minor offenses will learn very early on that to lie is to protect himself.... If your child intuits that you will react very punitively to his wrongdoing, he may be tempted to lie and may become, as time goes on, a habitual liar.”
—Lawrence Balter (20th century)
“Love once
Tipped the scales but now is shadowed, invisible,
Though mysteriously present, around somewhere.”
—John Ashbery (b. 1927)