Episode 31 shows how to make secondary dominant chords...
Episode 31 shows how to make secondary dominant chords (1:45) how to label them (2:43) and how to recognize them in two examples of music (3:59).
Question of the day (6:44): In the key of D major, what would the secondary dominant chord be for the submediant of this mode?Thank you for listening to The APsolute RecAP: Music Theory Edition!
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Hi and welcome to the APsolute Recap: Music Theory Edition. Today’s episode will recap Tonicization through Secondary Dominant Chords
Lets Zoom out:
We’re in Unit 7 Harmony and Voice Leading IV: Secondary Function
Topic 7.1
Our Big idea is pitch
Did you feel that? The shift in the continuum? You might be wondering, what causes music to sometimes sound as if it has changed keys? The answer my friend is secondary chords. These chords are borrowed from other modes to add an element of intrigue to the listener. Today, we will specifically look into secondary dominant chords. Remember, dominant refers to the fifth scale degree, and all its possible qualities.
Lets Zoom in:
The start and end of a piece will have a common tonic, meaning one mode is chosen for the majority of the piece. There are many examples of music that deviate from that mode at some point by completely modulating to another key, or briefly touching on another mode through secondary chords. The process of using temporary tonics is called tonicization. It is deemed fleeting when there is no real settling in of the new key, no cadences to ground it. You might see accidentals to create these harmonies, since they will not be entirely diatonic, but most likely related in some way.
In simplest terms of C major, you could choose any other note of the scale to start making a secondary dominant. Let’s say you choose D. You would pretend for a moment, that D is the tonic, and choose the dominant of D, instead of what the dominant of the original mode would be, which would be G. The dominant of D is A, so you would play the A major chord, before the diatonic D minor chord, thus making it act as a secondary dominant. Visually, these chords should be easy to spot since A major chords would not naturally happen in a C major piece. This would be labeled as V/ii. You can even have the dominant of a dominant. Again, in the key of C, the dominant would be G major. The dominant of G major is D major. D major, as you saw in the previous example is diatonically a minor chord. Therefore, when you see a D major in a C major piece, it will be labeled as V/V.
When writing your roman numeral analysis of secondary dominants, the V will always come first. This V can be written in any inversion. After the V comes a slash, and then the chord that the secondary dominant is relating to.
You’ll have an easier time hearing the secondary dominant in a song that is likely to be familiar to you. Here is an example of a secondary dominant in Frosty the Snowman. I start off in C major, and immediately afterwards go into the C7 chord. Now if the tonic is C, then a C7 chord is acting as a secondary dominant to the F chord, especially with the borrowing of the Bb, which comes in as the third harmony. This makes it a V7/IV chord.
(Excerpt 1 of Frosty)
Then this secondary dominant appears again in the second line of music.
(Excerpt 2 of Frosty)
Later, there is one more secondary dominant, with a D7 chord, which resolves to the dominant G chord. This makes it a V7/V7.
(Excerpt 3 of Frosty)
In another example by the The Beatles, the song Yesterday shows a secondary dominant at the end of each verse. The song is in the key of F, which would produce a G minor chord diatonically. In the last line of the verse, the chord progression is Dm, to G7, Bb and then F, which makes the G7 not a diatonic chord. G is the dominant of C, which is the fifth scale degree of F major. Thus, G7 here would be labeled as a V7/V.
To recap……
Secondary dominant chords are chords borrowed from other modes and built upon any scale degree. They will be the fifth of another scale degree. These chords are labeled with roman numerals starting with V, possibly followed by an inversion, then a slash, and finally the related chord. For example V/ii.
Coming up next on the Apsolute RecAP Music Theory Edition: Tonicization through Secondary Leading Tone Chords
Today’s Question of the day is about Secondary Dominant
Question: In the key of D major, what would the secondary dominant chord be for the submediant of this mode?