tive minor of G, c of
E[flat], d of F, etc., the small letter being used to refer to the minor
key or scale, while the capital letter indicates the major key or scale
unless accompanied by the word _minor_. Relative keys are therefore
defined as those having the same signature. G and e are relative keys,
as are also A and f[sharp], etc.

90. A minor scale beginning with the same tone as a major scale is
referred to as its _tonic minor_. Thus, _e.g._, c with three flats in
its signature is the tonic minor of C with all degrees in natural
condition; e with one sharp is the tonic minor of E with four sharps,
etc. Tonic keys are therefore those having the same key-tone.

91. The eight tones of the diatonic scale (both major and minor) are
often referred to by specific names, as follows:

1. _Tonic_--the tone. (This refers to the fact that the tonic
is the principal tone, or generating tone of the key, _i.e._,
it is _the_ tone.)

2. _Super-tonic_--above the tone.

3. _Mediant_--midway between tonic and dominant.

4. _Sub-dominant_--the under dominant. (This name does not
refer to the position of the tone under the dominant but to
the fact that the fifth below the tonic is also a dominant
tone--the under dominant--just as the fifth above is the upper
dominant).

5. _Dominant_--the governing tone. (From the Latin word
_dominus_ meaning _master_.)

6. _Super-dominant_--above the dominant. Or
_Sub-mediant_--midway between tonic and sub-dominant.

7. _Leading tone_--the tone which demands resolution to the
tonic (one-half step above it).

8. _Octave_--the eighth tone.

92. The syllables commonly applied to the various major and minor scales
in teaching sight-singing are as follows:[16]

[Footnote 16: These syllables are said to have been derived originally
from the initial syllables of the "Hymn to Saint John," the music of
which was a typical Gregorian chant. The application of these syllables
to the scale tones will be made clear by reference to this hymn as given
below. It will be observed that this hymn provided syllables only for
the six tones of the _hexachord_ then recognized; when the octave scale
was adopted (early in the sixteenth century) the initial letters of the
last line (s and i) were combined into a syllable for the seventh tone.

[Illustration: _Ut_ que-ant lax-is _Re_-so-na-re fi-bris _Mi_-ra
ges-to-rum _Fa_-mu