Scale Degrees

Just when you thought we were done with scales. In this lesson we will dive deeper into scales and explore the awesome sounds of the various scales out there for us to create with.

What we will cover in this lesson:

1. What is a scale degree?

2. Scale degree names

3. Characteristic of the scale degree

1) What is a Scale Degree?

What are scale degrees? They definitely have nothing to do with weather temperature so please do not be fooled by the word ’degrees’.

Scale degrees is the term used to describe the position of specific note on a scale in relation to it’s tonic.

* Tonic is the name used to describe the first note of the scale.

2) Scale Degree Names

In order to become familiar with how to name the scale degrees we will use the C major scale as an example.

The C major scale is composed of the following notes:

C D E F G A B C

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

The very first note, C, is the first scale degree and this first note is known as the tonic note, in other words it’s the home key. Let’s look at the names for all the scale degrees up to the 7th degree.

Scale Degree Names

1st - Tonic (I)

2nd - Supertonic (ii)

3rd - Mediant (iii)

4th - Subdominant (IV)

5th - Dominant (V)

6th - Submediant (vi)

7th - Leading (vii)

You may have noticed that I did not include the 8th note as it happens to just be another C. This is because the C, whether an octave lower or an octave higher, is still a tonic.

3) Characteristic of the Scale Degree

So what about the characteristic of the scale degree? Well, believe it or not you will find quite some meaning behind the names for these scale degrees on how they play a key role in the grand scheme of scales and chord progressions so let’s get started by looking at the scale degrees in the major scale below...

1. Tonic - The tonic, your first scale degree, is your home key, every melody you hear, write or chord that’s built in your music will all revolve around how they relate to the tonic key. Basically, without the tonic we don’t know what to do with the notes we have. The tonic is instrumental in helping you know in what key you are going to compose in, or sing/play in if you don’t compose. So just remember, the tonic is your home or that place you always desire to come back to.

2. Supertonic - Your second scale degree is known as your supertonic and the reason is actually quite simple and explained by looking at language. In Latin, the word ‘super’ means ‘above’ and since our second scale degree is above our tonic we call it the supertonic.

3. Mediant - Our third scale degree gets its name due to its location, much like our second scale degree. In Latin, ’mediant’ refers to the middle. I know, you might be thinking, “but the third scale degree is not in the middle!” To which I will say that you are absolutely correct but you’re also wrong. The reason the third scale degree is considered to be the mediant is because it is located right in the middle of two of the notes/chord that have the most weighted sound in music, the tonic (1) and the dominant (5). I kind of tricked you there didn’t I? :)

4. Subdominant - Our fourth scale degree is called the subdominant and is one of our most important notes or chords in a scale or chord progression. This particular note or chord gets it name for two reasons. The first reason is because the word ‘sub’ in Latin means below and it happens to be located below the dominant. The second reason for it being called a subdominant is because when you are going from the tonic down to the fifth you get an interval of a fourth.

5. Dominant - I feel like the scale degrees’ name says it all. The fifth scale degree is called dominant because it has the strongest tendency to want to resolve itself back to the tonic. It is for this reason that it is the second most important scale degree after the tonic.

6. Submediant - Our sixth scale degree is known as our submediant note or chord. Unlike the subdominant, the submediant does not get its name because it is below the mediant, on the contrary, the submediant is three notes above the mediant so let‘s look at its location. The submediant is located right in between the subdominant and the upper tonic (the eight note; the octave). Since it is located below the upper tonic, our sixth scale degree got named the

7. Leading - Last but definitely not least we have the leading tone, our seventh scale degree. Much like the dominant, the leading tone tends to always want to lead to the tonic. When you play it, that seventh scale degree will always lead your ear to want to hear the tonic. Why? Just nature trying to tell us where we should want to go is all. Lol. If you read all the way to the end of this lesson I will retell a story told to me about Brahms in regards to the leading tone, by both my music history and harmony/musicianship professors back in college.

All of the meaning for the scale degrees mentioned above relate to major scales. When we are looking at a natural minor scale all the characteristics and names above will remain the same except for the seventh scale degree.

In a natural minor scale, our seventh scale degree is known as the subtonic. The difference between the major and natural minor scale is the distance between the seventh scale degree and upper tonic. In the major scale the distance between the seventh scale degree to the upper tonic is a half step, whereas, in the natural minor scale the distance is a whole step. For this reason, the seventh scale degree in the natural minor scale is known as subtonic.

BONUS STORY

At some point in college, either my music history or harmony professor, told us a story about how a composer, whom I believe to be Brahms, might’ve been someone else, had a student who was finishing up their lesson. The last thing the student had to do before being able to leave was to practice scales. The student played the scale up to the 7th scale degree and then left without playing the upper tonic. Brahms could not stand to hear that the scale was left incomplete because the leading tone begged to resolve to the upper tonic so he went downstairs and played the upper tonic the student omitted in order to complete the scale.

There you have it, a short little story but one that has stayed with me all these years. I just wish I could remember who the composer is supposed to be. Haha. Anywho, I thought it was a funny little story the first time I heard it because I am known to do the same when I hear anything end on a cadence that begs to go to the tonic. :)