Leading tone

In <a href="/facts/Music_theory/BoekvflP">music theory</a>, a leading tone (also called subsemitone or leading note in the UK) is a <a href="/facts/Musical_note/spIQyV4T">note</a> or <a href="/facts/Pitch_(music)/fQAK0JsC">pitch</a> which <a href="/facts/Resolution_(music)/5TLIIqFV">resolves</a> or "leads" to a note one <a href="/facts/Semitone/lVBsLYSA">semitone</a> higher or lower, being a lower and upper leading tone, respectively. Typically, the leading tone refers to the seventh <a href="/facts/Scale-degree/XooEJJya">scale degree</a> of a <a href="/facts/Major_scale/WtnkhIgv">major scale</a> (), a <a href="/facts/Major_seventh/tWPXmCNB">major seventh</a> above the <a href="/facts/Tonic_(music)/3YWh9zFV">tonic</a>. In the <a href="/facts/Solf%25C3%25A8ge/YNaYYl8F">movable do solfège</a> system, the leading tone is sung as si.
A leading-tone triad is a <a href="/facts/Triad_(music)/YIA2T6Y6">triad</a> built on the seventh scale degree in a major key (viio in <a href="/facts/Roman_numeral_analysis/rwtlhyNE">Roman numeral analysis</a>), while a leading-tone seventh chord is a <a href="/facts/Seventh_chord/XeWsnNrL">seventh chord</a> built on the seventh scale degree (viiø7). <a href="/facts/Walter_Piston/JxnN7KXQ">Walter Piston</a> considers and notates viio as V07, an incomplete <a href="/facts/Dominant_seventh_chord/E4EIVqmN">dominant seventh chord</a>. (For the Roman numeral notation of these chords, see <a href="/facts/Roman_numeral_analysis/rwtlhyNE">Roman numeral analysis</a>.)

Leading tone open-in-new

Leading tone