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In music theory, the scale degree is the position of a particular note on a scale [1] relative to the tonic—the first and main note of the scale from which each octave is assumed to begin. Degrees are useful for indicating the size of intervals and chords and whether an interval is major or minor .
The seventh scale degree is very often raised a half step to form a leading tone, making the dominant chord (V) a major chord (i.e. V major instead of v minor) and the subtonic chord (vii), a diminished chord (vii o, instead of ♭ VII). This version of minor scale is called the harmonic minor scale.
The following is a list of musical scales and modes. Degrees are relative to the major scale. List of musical scales and modes Name Image Sound Degrees Intervals
The scale degrees of a heptatonic (7-note) scale can also be named using the terms tonic, supertonic, mediant, subdominant, dominant, submediant, subtonic. If the subtonic is a semitone away from the tonic, then it is usually called the leading-tone (or leading-note); otherwise the leading-tone refers to the raised subtonic.
Major and minor may also refer to scales and chords that contain a major third or a minor third, respectively. A major scale is a scale in which the third scale degree (the mediant) is a major third above the tonic note. In a minor scale, the third degree is a minor third above the tonic.
A leading-tone chord is a triad built on the seventh scale degree in major and the raised seventh-scale-degree in minor. The quality of the leading-tone triad is diminished in both major and minor keys. [12] For example, in both C major and C minor, it is a B diminished triad (though it is usually written in first inversion, as described below).
For each major scale, there is a corresponding natural minor scale, sometimes called its relative minor. It uses the same sequence of notes as the corresponding major scale but starts from a different note. That is, it begins on the sixth degree of the major scale and proceeds step-by-step to the first octave of the sixth degree.
The pattern of whole and half steps characteristic of a major scale. The intervals from the tonic (keynote) in an upward direction to the second, to the third, to the sixth, and to the seventh scale degrees of a major scale are called major. [1] A major scale is a diatonic scale. The sequence of intervals between the notes of a major scale is: