If you start reading a book on music theory you will most likely come across words like Tonic, Supertonic, Mediant, Sub-Dominant, Dominant, Sub-Mediant, and Leading Tone. In the scale of C Major there are 7 notes. They are C, D, E, F, G, A, and B. In this scale, C would be the Tonic, D-Supertonic, E-Mediant, F-Sub-Dominant, G-Dominant, A-Sub-Mediant, and B the Leading Tone. If each of the notes of the scale has a letter name, why then is there a need for the other more fancy names? While the letter name gives the actual name of the note, the other names will describe the function of the note within that scale. The C note is the Tonic in the key of C, but it would be the Supertonic in the key of B-Flat. C would also have all of the other functions in other keys as well. The seven fancy-named functions are sometimes simply called by their number or scale degree. This means we would say: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 ,6 ,7 rather than saying Tonic, Supertonic, mediant, etc. The “function” of the note is how it will sound with respect to the other notes in that scale. It’s similar to the function of each player on a basketball team, or the function of each worker in and office or factory. Basketball coaches will often refer to their 5 positions as the 1, the 2, 3, 4 and 5. They would represent the point guard, shooting guard, small forward, power forward, and center respectively. Numbers are used just to make it easier to say essentially. I think it’s important to learn the full names of the note functions because it will help your ear build more of a relationship to the sounds that you are hearing. Eventually you may only need the numbers to properly understand the music you’re seeing or hearing. Plenty of musicians will get by without ever speaking one of those fancy-named functions (FNFs). Again, it’s not that you can’t get by without them, but they are description words that I think will really help your understanding. It only takes a little bit of effort to learn a few new words. It might make you sound like a more intelligent person by using these fancy musical terms. These names are also given to describe the chord function as well as the note function. I’m sure you found this information to be riveting and on-the-edge-of-your-seat entertaining. So be certain to leave us your awesome feedback!
by Musicguru
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Thanks! I now understand the meaning of these names