Subtonic

This article is about the musical scale degree one whole step below the tonic note. For the scale degree one semitone below the tonic, see Leading note.
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The scale and subtonic triad in C minor.

In music, the subtonic is the degree of a musical scale which is a whole step below the tonic note. In a major key, it is a lowered, or flattened, seventh scale degree (♭scale degree 7). It appears as the seventh scale degree in the natural minor and descending melodic minor scales but not in the major scale. In major keys, the subtonic sometimes appears in borrowed chords. In the movable do solfège system, the subtonic note is sung as te (or ta).

The subtonic can be contrasted with the leading note, which is a half step below the tonic.[1] The distinction between leading note and subtonic has been made by theorists since at least the second quarter of the 20th century.[2] Before that, the term subtonic often referred to the leading tone triad, for example.[3][4][5][6][7]

The word subtonic is also used as an English translation of subtonium, the Latin term used in Gregorian chant theory for the similar usage of a tone one whole step below the mode final in the Dorian, Phrygian, and Mixolydian modes.[8]

  1. ^ Bruce Benward and Marilyn Nadine Saker, Music: In Theory and Practice, vol. 1, seventh edition (Boston: McGraw-Hill, 2003), p. 33. ISBN 978-0-07-294262-0. "Used only to designate the seventh degree of the natural minor scale,"
  2. ^ Donald Tweedy, Manual of Harmonic Technique Based on the Practice of J. S. Bach (Philadelphia: Oliver Ditson, 1928), p. 7.
  3. ^ Herbert, John Bunyan (1897). Herbert's Harmony and Composition, p. 102. Pennsylvania State. [ISBN unspecified]
  4. ^ Gardner, Carl Edward (1918). Music Composition: A New Method of Harmony, p. 48. Carl Fischer. [ISBN unspecified]
  5. ^ Clack, H. P. (1899). Songs and Praises, p. 14. H.P. Clack. [ISBN unspecified]
  6. ^ Root, George Frederick (1872). The Normal Musical Hand-book, p. 315. J. Church. [ISBN unspecified] "The name in harmony sometimes given to seven of a diatonic scale," p. 344.
  7. ^ Stainer, John (1871). A Theory of Harmony Founded on the Tempered Scale, p. 9. Rivingtons. [ISBN unspecified]
  8. ^ Julian Rushton, "Subtonic", The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, second edition, edited by Stanley Sadie and John Tyrrell (London: Macmillan Publishers, 2001); Harold C. Powers, "Subtonium", The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, second edition, edited by Stanley Sadie and John Tyrrell (London: Macmillan Publishers, 2001)