Editing Leading tone (section)

{{Short description|Tonal degree of the diatonic scale}}
{{for|the lowered seventh degree|subtonic}}
{{Use shortened footnotes|date=April 2021}}
{{Image frame|content=<score sound="1">
   \new PianoStaff <<
      \new Staff <<
         \new Voice \relative c'' {
             \stemUp \clef treble \key c \major \time 4/4
             \override NoteHead.color = #red b1 c 
             }
         \new Voice \relative c'' {
             \stemDown
              g1 g
              }
            >>
     \new Staff <<
         \new Voice \relative c' {
             \stemUp \clef bass \key c \major \time 4/4
             d1 e
             }
         \new Voice \relative c' {
             \stemDown
             g1 c, \bar "||"
             }
         >>
    >>
</score>|width=300|caption=In this example, the leading tone of C major (B) resolves to the [[Tonic (music)|tonic]] (C) in a [[perfect authentic cadence]].}}
In [[music theory]], a '''leading tone''' (also called '''subsemitone''' or '''leading note''' in the UK) is a [[musical note|note]] or [[pitch (music)|pitch]] which [[resolution (music)|resolves]] or "leads" to a note one [[semitone]] higher or lower, being a lower and upper leading tone, respectively. Typically, {{em|the}} leading tone refers to the seventh [[Scale-degree|scale degree]] of a [[major scale]] ({{music|scale|7}}), a [[major seventh]] above the [[Tonic (music)|tonic]]. In the [[Solfège#Movable do solfège|movable do solfège]] system, the leading tone is sung as ''si''.

A leading-tone triad is a [[triad (music)|triad]] built on the seventh scale degree in a major key (vii{{music|dim}} in [[Roman numeral analysis]]), while a leading-tone seventh chord is a [[seventh chord]] built on the seventh scale degree (vii{{music|halfdim}}<sup>7</sup>). [[Walter Piston]] considers and notates vii{{music|dim}} as V{{music|07 chord}}, an incomplete [[dominant seventh chord]].{{sfn|Goldman|1965|loc=17}} (For the Roman numeral notation of these chords, see [[Roman numeral analysis]].)