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Degree (Music a step in the toneladder)

in music, a step in the toneladder. It may consist of a semi-tone, a tone, or (in the minor scale) of an augmented tone. When the notes are on the same line or space they are in the same degree. The interval of a second is one degree, the interval of a third two degrees, and so on, irrespective of the steps being tones or semi-tones. Hence, also, notes are in the same degree when they are natural, flat, or sharp, of the same note, as C and C sharp, E and E flat; and they are in different degrees when, though the same note on an instrument are called by different names, as F sharp and G flat, C sharp and D flat.