Unstable Scale Degrees – Hands-Free Ear Training 2

This type of ear training is also known as Functional Ear Training. Many people don’t know that each degree of the major scale has its own distinct sound, as well as something I call “musical gravity.” These exercises will train your ears to recognize the four scale degrees which generally want to resolve up or down to a neighboring note. The full playlist is available on my Patreon for 1$ with audio downloads, but will gradually be made available on this channel for free. See below for links and a listener’s guide.

PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/JoeLuegersMusicAcademy
FREE YOUTUBE PLAYLIST: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL40pFkWbVtdlAY_g71Pf9RBy97mqXpQHK

Supertonic (scale degree 2) – The supertonic is equidistant to both 1 and 3, so it is the only scale degree that naturally pulls in both directions. However, the tonic (1) is so powerful that the supertonic generally wants to move down in its direction.

Subdominant (scale degree 4) – The Subdominant very much wants to resolve down to scale degree 3 (mediant), which is only a half step away.

Submediant (scale degree 6) – Why is it called the submediant? It’s because the submediant is the same distance under the tonic as the mediant is over the tonic. 1-2-3 (mediant) 1-7-6(submediant). This can be one of the more difficult ones to identify. The submediant wants to resolve down to 5, but not as much as the supertonic wants to resolve down to 1.

Leading Tone (scale degree 7) – This should be one of the easiest to identify. It is the only scale degree that REALLY wants to resolve up to the tonic, because it is only a half step away.

Thanks to @BrandonWalid, Martin Shaw, Tóth Ákos, Austin Kwan, and Rafael Belor for proof-watching this video.

CONTACT: joe@luegerswriter.com

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