Submediant

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The scale and submediant triad in the A major (top) and A minor (bottom) scale.

In music, the submediant is the sixth degree (scale degree 6) of a diatonic scale. The submediant ("lower mediant") is named thus because it is halfway between the tonic and the subdominant ("lower dominant")[1] or because its position below the tonic is symmetrical to that of the mediant above.[2] (See the figure in the Degree (music) article.)

In the movable do solfège system, the submediant is sung as la in a major mode, le or lo in do-based minor and fa in la-based minor. It is occasionally called superdominant,[3] as the degree above the dominant. This is its normal name (sus-dominante) in French.

In Roman numeral analysis, the triad formed on the submediant is typically symbolized by "VI" if it is a major triad (the default in a minor mode) and by "vi" if it is a minor triad (the default in a major mode).

The term submediant may also refer to a relationship of musical keys. For example, relative to the key of C major, the key of A minor is the submediant. In a major key, the submediant key is the relative minor. Modulation (change of key) to the submediant is relatively rare, compared with modulation to the dominant in a major key or modulation to the mediant (relative major) in a minor key.

  1. ^ Benward & Saker (2003). Music: In Theory and Practice, Vol. I, p. 33. 7th edition. ISBN 978-0-07-294262-0. "The lower mediant halfway between tonic and lower dominant (subdominant)."
  2. ^ Forte, Allen (1979). Tonal Harmony, p. 120. 3rd edition. Holt, Rinehart, and Wilson. ISBN 0-03-020756-8. "The triad on VI is called the submediant because it occupies a position below the tonic triad analogous to that occupied by the mediant above the tonic triad.
  3. ^ Ebenezer Prout, Harmony: its theory and practice, 09/09/2010