Submediant

What it means

Submediant, in the naming of scale degrees, designates the sixth degree of a key — the “lower mediant,” which lies a third below the tonic, just as the mediant lies a third above it. In C major that is A and the A minor triad built on it (VI).

Musical use

In terms of function theory, the triad on the sixth degree in major is the tonic's relative. It shares two notes with the tonic and can therefore represent it, without fully taking over its calm. From this its most important use follows: the deceptive cadence. The dominant does not lead to the expected tonic but to the sixth degree — the sonority is related enough to work as a continuation but different enough to refuse the close. The movement must continue and repeat the cadence.

Outside the deceptive cadence, the sixth degree often appears as a station in chord progressions, for instance between the tonic and the subdominant, where it leads the bass stepwise downward. In numerous songs and in popular music, progressions connecting the tonic and the sixth degree belong to the basic stock.

In minor, a major triad stands on the sixth degree, interpreted there as the tonic's counter-chord or the subdominant's relative; in the deceptive cadence in minor, this major sonority appears correspondingly.

Bear in mind that the degree designation “submediant” is little used in German harmonic theory; the functional names are usual.

In English usage, submediant designates the sixth degree. In German the term is rare; here one speaks rather of the sixth degree or, functionally, of the tonic's relative in major. The name is explained by the fact that the degree lies below, in the middle between the tonic and the subdominant.

Performance practice

Shape the deceptive cadence on the sixth degree as a surprise — with the weight of an expected close that then does not occur. Keep the tension up afterward, until the actual cadence follows. And listen, in chord progressions, for the shared note between the tonic and the sixth degree; it connects both sonorities.