Theory Terms Vol 1 - Scale Degrees - Thursday Theory with Thtuart!

[00:00:00][music] >> People of the world, I wrote a theme song for Thursday Theory with Stewart. I haven't actually written it, but I'm going to write it right now, and then whatever I come up with on the spot right now is going to be the eternal Thursday Theory theme song.

[00:00:22]It's [music] Thursday Theory tonight.

[00:00:26]Are you doing [music] all right?

[00:00:30]Are you doing [singing] okay? I hope that we die [music] on the same day. Metroid Prime.

[00:00:38]All right, I hope you like it because it's going to be in every single episode from now on. Today's Thursday Theory is begins a new series. It's not going to be a consecutive series. It's not like every Thursday I'm going to consecutive it up with this series.

[00:00:54]BUT WHAT TODAY'S EPISODE IS ABOUT IS THIS THE first installment in the theory terminologies series, where I act as your um adopted theory dictionary, and I tell you what words mean that are related to music theory. Today's episode is all about scale tones. Hey, have you ever heard the term tonic, supertonic, mediant, subdominant, dominant, submediant, and leading tone? Today we are going to discuss what those are about. Uncle Stewart, I've never heard of those. I think maybe I've heard of tonic, but I thought it was a band and or a drink / medicine. Well, you're correct about those things, but I am here to tell you that you know the major scale?

[00:01:39]That is the major scale. Doesn't matter what key it's in. Just any major scale is exactly the same. The first note of the major scale is called the tonic.

[00:01:49]That's just whether if you're in the key of C, then the C note is called the tonic. If you're in the key of F sharp, then F sharp is called the tonic. Tonic just means relating to tone. So, I think that when they call it the tonic, they're just saying like, "Yeah, that's like the the main tone of the scale."

[00:02:07]I'm pretty sure. That's my interpretation of it. But, I'm not sure if you knew this, but the second note of the scale is called the supertonic.

[00:02:17]That doesn't mean it's better than the tonic. It does not mean that it can fly through kryptonite and it can shoot lasers through your clothes. What a stupid idiot. Oh my god, this is so dumb.

[00:02:28]Do you What kind of thing do you think you're doing here?

[00:02:31]Are you talking to me?

[00:02:32]Yes, but I was talking to myself. Okay, I have a question. Is this a kids show or is it not a kids show? I don't know.

[00:02:40]I used to tell people, "Oh, it's totally family-friendly. Anyone can watch my YouTube channel." And I'm just I'm starting to think that's not true at all. No, Uncle Stuart, you didn't say anything bad. You said shoot lasers through clothes. That's like the thing that happens in kids shows is they like burn off people's clothes all the time.

[00:02:56]Okay, wait. First of all, what kids shows are you watching? And second of all, what are you talking about?

[00:03:01]Okay, all great points. Let's save this for the discussion after the lecture.

[00:03:05]So, supertonic. Super just means like above in some language. I I don't know.

[00:03:13]So, supertonic just means above the tonic. So, the second note of the scale is right above the tonic, so it's the supertonic.

[00:03:21]Uncle Stuart, I don't understand why these terms matter at all. I think it's mostly just like tradition.

[00:03:28]And it's just like if you're opposed to using numbers. Cuz like you could just say the second degree of the major scale.

[00:03:36]But, uh if you're So, if you don't like saying numbers, then you say supertonic, and that means it's the second note of the major scale. Great job. The third note of the major scale is called the mediant. Mediant just means middle. And so And so you're thinking, but Uncle Stuart, the third note of the scale is not the midpoint of the scale. It's not in the middle. Ah, perhaps, but perchance the third note of the scale is the middle, the mediant, of the tonic, the first note, and the dominant, the fifth note. It's right in between the first note and the fifth note. And so they decided to call that the mediant, which means middle.

[00:04:22]The [snorts] fourth note of the scale, cuatro, that's Spanish for four, surprised you didn't know that, is called the subdominant.

[00:04:30]Sub just means below, and this note, the fourth note, the subdominant, is one note below the fifth note of the scale, which is called the dominant. So that fifth note of the scale is called the dominant. The reason why it's called the dominant is because it is the most controlling note of the scale. It is the scale This actually isn't entirely true, but in music tradition, that fifth note of the scale really WANTS TO GO BACK TO THE TONIC. It just like desperately wants to go back to the tonic. So they call it the dominant note of the scale because it has the most like determined, aggressive direction that it wants to go.

[00:05:16]By the way, as far as your training goes, like aurally, I don't actually find that to be true, but it's the musical tradition is that that fifth note very alpha dog dominantly wants to go back to the tonic.

[00:05:32]The sixth note of the scale is called the submediant.

[00:05:40]So this one doesn't make sense because we already determined that sub means below, and we determined that the third note of the scale was called the mediant. So, the submediant should be one below the third note of the scale, which is the second degree of the scale. But, that one's called the supertonic.

[00:06:02]So, the submediant is the midpoint between the subdominant and the higher octave of the tonic.

[00:06:15]I'm with you. I don't think this makes very much sense, but if you There's only seven of these you have to worry about.

[00:06:22]So, just memorize them and don't worry about it. So, the submediant is the sixth note of the scale. The seventh note of the scale The sietes notes of the scale, which is Spanish for the seventh notes of the scale, surprise you didn't know that, is called the leading tone. It's called a leading tone because it really WANTS TO LEAD UP to the eighth note of the scale, which is actually just the higher octave of the tonic note.

[00:06:59]So, this video We're done, by the way.

[00:07:02]This video kind of accomplished what I wanted, which is it kind of like just sort of discouraged you from even worrying about this stuff cuz it's not all that important. But, if you run in certain circles, people might use these terms and then they might be useful. I mean, it's good to know what they are cuz just I don't know cuz learning is good for you and the whole meaning of life is to learn, which is another thing I don't agree with.

[00:07:27]I just don't think That's like a standard thing is people have just accepted that a positive force in the world is learning and I don't think that's true because you can learn really horrible hateful stuff just as easily as you can learn like good growth stuff that makes the world a better place. In fact, I would argue it is easier to learn the hateful stuff than it is to learn the loving stuff.

[00:07:53]So, uh we have uh decided not to worry about these scale tone terms and we have decided as a group together that learning is a negative experience and should be avoided at all costs. I don't believe that. I'm being silly.

[00:08:10]Okay.

[00:08:11]Good.

[00:08:13]>> [music]