3.  As we all know, Scales are made up of 7 notes (8, if you count the tonic being repeated ).  Sometimes, musicians use Arabic numerals to label them.  It’s really easy. The tonic is 1, then all the others are numbered in ascending order.

4. 1 1212 1313 1414 1515 1 1717 1616 As you can see, the tonic at the top of the scale is also 1. That’s because even though the tonics are different octaves, they are still both the same note. Also note that 1, 4, and 5 are in red. You will see why later on.

6.  Although knowing the degree numbers is useful, musicians don’t normally refer to the degrees of the scale by number. (Classical musicians, anyway…)  Rather, they are known by their scale degree names.

7.  Before we get to the actual degree names, let’s examine some of the words we will need to understand, from their original Latin form and definition.

8.  Super: this means “above.”  Sub: “Below”  Mediant: “middle.”  Dominant: I guess you can just think of it as “important.”  Now that we understand this, let’s go on to degree names!

9.  Tonic simply refers to the 1 st degree (and last).  The scale is named after it, and it is the home key, so to speak. TONIC!!!

10.  Literally translated, the supertonic means “ above tonic. ” Simple as that. SUPERTONIC

11.  I skipped on purpose- you’ll see in a second why.  The dominant is where harmonic structure likes to go to, so it’s super important. DOMINANT

12.  The mediant is called that because it’s the degree in between the tonic and the dominant. The Middle Note! TONIC!!! DOMINANT MEDIANT: MIDDLE NOTE

13.  Ironically, the subdominant is not called this because it is below the dominant.  It is called this because it is a fifth below the tonic! (Dun dun DUUUUUUNNN!!!!) SUB DOMIN ANT! TONIC!!! 1 2 3 4 5

14.  The submediant is a 5 th below the mediant if the scale were to continue upward. SUBMEDIANT MEDIANT: MIDDLE NOTE 1 2 3 4 5

15.  The leading tone is called this because of its tonal quality.  Harmonic structure indicates that the leading tone always leads to the tonic. LEADING TONE

16. TONIC SUPER TONIC MEDIANT SUB MEDIANT DOMINANT SUB- MEDIANT LEADING TONE TONIC