In minor, the progression from VI to ii° (e.g. A more complete version starts the series of fifths on the chord of iii, iii–vi–ii–V–I, as in measures 11 and 12 of Charlie Parker's ' Blues for Alice'. This submediant role is as common in popular and classical music as it is in jazz, or any other musical language related to Western European tonality. If all chords were major (I–VI–II–V–I), the succession would be one of secondary dominants. This is because the relationship between vi and ii and between ii and V is the same as that between V and I. In major, the submediant chord also often appears as the starting point of a series of perfect descending fifths and ascending fourths leading to the dominant, vi–ii–V. In a submediant chord, the third may be doubled. One of the main usages of the submediant chord is in the deceptive cadence, V (7)–vi in major or V (7)–VI in minor. Modulation (change of key) to the submediant is relatively rare, compared with modulation to the dominant in a major key or modulation to the mediant in a minor key. In a major key, the submediant key is the relative minor. For example, relative to the key of C major, the key of A minor is the submediant. The term submediant may also refer to a relationship of musical keys. In Roman numeral analysis, the 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).

This is its normal name ( sus-dominante) in French. It is occasionally called superdominant, as the degree above the dominant. In the movable do solfège system, the submediant is sung as la in a major mode and fa in a minor mode. (See the figure in the Degree (music) article.) The submediant ('lower mediant') is named thus because it is halfway between the tonic and the subdominant ('lower dominant') or because its position below the tonic is symmetrical to that of the mediant above.

In music, the submediant is the sixth degree ( ) of a diatonic scale. The scale and submediant triad in the C major (top) and C minor (bottom) Scale.

Mediant of the d flat major scale