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:
“There are three major offenses against filial piety of which not producing an heir is the worst.”
—Chinese proverb.
Mencius.
“A certain minor light may still
Leap incandescent
Out of kitchen table or chair
As if a celestial burning took
Possession of the most obtuse objects now and then—”
—Sylvia Plath (1932–1963)
“It cannot but affect our philosophy favorably to be reminded of these shoals of migratory fishes, of salmon, shad, alewives, marsh-bankers, and others, which penetrate up the innumerable rivers of our coast in the spring, even to the interior lakes, their scales gleaming in the sun; and again, of the fry which in still greater numbers wend their way downward to the sea.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)