Editing Submediant (section)

{{Short description|Tonal degree of the diatonic scale}}
{{Image frame|content=<score vorbis="1" lang="lilypond">
{
\override Score.TimeSignature #'stencil = ##f
\relative a {
  \clef treble
  \time 7/4 a4 b cis d e \once \override NoteHead.color = #red fis gis \time 2/4 a2 \bar "||"
  \time 4/4 <fis a cis>1 \bar "||"
} }
</score>

<score vorbis="1" lang="lilypond">
{
\override Score.TimeSignature #'stencil = ##f
\relative a {
  \clef treble
  \time 7/4 a4 b c d e \once \override NoteHead.color = #red f g \time 2/4 a2 \bar "||"
  \time 4/4 <f a c>1 \bar "||"
} }
</score>|width=310|caption=The scale and submediant triad in the A major (top) and A minor (bottom) scale.}}

In [[music]], the '''submediant''' is the sixth [[degree (music)|degree]] ({{music|scale|6}}) of a [[diatonic scale]]. The submediant ("lower mediant") is named thus because it is halfway between the [[tonic (music)|tonic]] and the [[subdominant]] ("lower dominant")<ref>Benward & Saker (2003). ''Music: In Theory and Practice, Vol. I'', p. 33. 7th edition. {{ISBN|978-0-07-294262-0}}. "The lower mediant halfway between tonic and lower dominant (subdominant)."</ref> or because its position below the tonic is symmetrical to that of the mediant above.<ref>[[Allen Forte|Forte, Allen]] (1979). ''Tonal Harmony'', p. 120. 3rd edition. Holt, Rinehart, and Wilson. {{ISBN|0-03-020756-8}}. "The triad on VI<!--caps in original--> is called the ''submediant'' because it occupies a position ''below'' the tonic triad analogous to that occupied by the mediant above the tonic triad.</ref> (See the figure in the [[Degree (music)#Major and minor scales | Degree (music)]] article.) 

In the [[Solfège#Movable do solfège|movable do solfège]] system, the submediant is sung as ''la'' in a major mode, ''le'' or ''lo'' in do-based minor and ''fa'' in la-based minor. It is occasionally called '''superdominant''',<ref>[[Ebenezer Prout]], ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=Fz5dVLe2xiEC&dq=Submediant+superdominant&pg=PA5 Harmony: its theory and practice]'', 09/09/2010</ref> as the degree above the dominant. This is its normal name (''sus-dominante'') in French.

In [[Roman numeral analysis]], the [[Triad (music)|triad]] formed on the submediant is typically symbolized by "VI" if it is a [[major triad]] (the default in a minor mode) and by "vi" if it is a [[minor triad]] (the default in a major mode).

The term ''submediant'' may also refer to a relationship of musical [[Key (music)|keys]]. For example, relative to the key of C major, the key of A minor is the submediant. In a major key, the submediant key is the [[relative minor]]. [[Modulation (music)|Modulation]] (change of key) to the submediant is relatively rare, compared with modulation to the [[dominant (music)|dominant]] in a major key or modulation to the [[mediant]] (relative major) in a minor key.