# Degree (music)

For scale-step in Schenkerian analysis, see scale-step.
Scale degree names[1] (C major scale)  ).
Scale degree roman numerals.[2]

In music theory, a scale degree is the name given to a particular note of a scale[3] to specify its position relative to the tonic (the main note of the scale). The tonic is considered to be the first degree of the scale, from which each octave is assumed to begin.

Any musical scale may be thought to have degrees. However, the notion of scale degree is most commonly applied to scales in which a tonic is specified by definition, such as the 7-tone diatonic scales (e.g. the C-major scale C–D–E–F–G–A–B, in which C is the tonic). As for the 12-tone chromatic scale, the selection of a first degree is possible in theory, but arbitrary and not meaningful, because typically all the notes of a chromatic scale have the same importance.

The expression scale step is sometimes used as a synonym of scale degree, but it may also refer, perhaps more properly and less ambiguously, to the distance, or interval, between two successive scale degrees (see Steps and skips). Indeed, the terms whole step and half step are commonly used as interval names. The number of scale degrees and the distance between them together define a scale.

## Major and minor scales

Degree Name Meaning Note (in C)
1st Tonic Tonal center, note of final resolution C
2nd Supertonic One whole step above the tonic D
3rd Mediant Midway between tonic and dominant E/E
4th Subdominant Lower dominant, same interval below tonic as dominant is above tonic F
5th Dominant 2nd in importance to the tonic G
6th Submediant Lower mediant, midway between tonic and subdominant A/A
7th Leading tone/Subtonic Melodically strong affinity for and leads to tonic/One whole step below tonic B/B
1st (8th) Tonic Tonal center, note of final resolution C'

The degrees of the traditional major and minor scales may be identified several ways:

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.