> I'm a newbie to this group and to music theory in general. I have high-
school experience of music theory in that I can read sheet music and
understand the definitions of some music terms.
>
> I'm trying to learn a new instrument, without instruction. I want to be
able to play improv.
>
> I have a question, or two, below.
>
> "The degrees of the traditional major and minor scales may be identified
several ways...in English, by the names tonic, supertonic, mediant,
subdominant, dominant, submediant, (subtonic or leading tone)...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 one third above and
below the tonic, and dominant and subdominant are one fifth above and
below the tonic." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scale_degree)
Yeah I've heard that explanation before as well and it kinda fits with
some of the thoughts I've had lately on symmetry in music.
> Q: The degrees of the scale are described here as steps above/below the
tonic, why does this conflict with my thinking that tonic is the first
note of the scale? Isn't sub-dominant the middle note in the scale?
A) Try thinking of the tonic as a 'centre' rather than a starting/
ending point - it's the note towards which all the other note on the
scale will gravitate. If you think of it as a centre then (like
planets orbiting the sun) it doesn't matter so much whether the other
notes are above or below the tonic as the net effect is still the
same.
B) If your scale is 7 notes long (CDEFGAB) then the sub-dominant is
slap-bang in the middle of the scale. If OTOH your scale is a full
ocatves' worth (CDEFGABC) you'll see the mid-point is halfway between
F and G (i.e. F#). As far as tonal music is concerned the mid-point of
a scale is the dominant and this has more to do with the way harmonic
oscillators work than it does with number of steps above/below the
tonic.
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