In music theory, a scale degree is the name of a particular note of a scale in relation to the tonic (the note of the scale that is considered the most important). The degrees of the traditional major and minor scales may be identified several ways:
- the first, second, 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 tonic, supertonic, mediant, subdominant, dominant, submediant, leading note (leading tone in the United States).
- 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.
See also
This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
