A secondary dominant is an altered chord having a dominant or leading tone relationship to a chord in the key other than the tonic. An altered chord is a chord containing at least one tone that is foreign to the key. Using secondary dominants results in the tonicization of the chord of resolution.

How are secondary dominants formed?

Writing Secondary Dominants

1. Find the the root of the chord after the secondary dominant (the Roman numeral under the slash). It is a major or minor triad.
2. Find the pitch a P5 above the root. ...
3. Build a dominant seventh chord or major triad on this pitch. ...
4. Resolve the chordal 7th (down) and the secondary leading-tone (up).

How do you read secondary dominants?

In a nutshell, a secondary dominant chord is borrowed from another key. So when you see a secondary dominant chord you have to ask yourself, “This secondary dominant is the 'V7' of what chord?” Looking at the chord progression above ask yourself, “D7 is the 'V7' of what chord?” The answer is that D7 is the 'V7' of G.

How do secondary chords work?

A secondary chord is a dominant function chord that is not the dominant chord in the key of the piece, but is the dominant of one of the other major or minor triads in that key.

What do secondary dominant chords resolve to?

In jazz harmony, a secondary dominant is any dominant seventh chord which occurs on a weak beat and resolves downward by a perfect fifth. Thus, a chord is a secondary dominant when it functions as the dominant of some harmonic element other than the key's tonic and resolves to that element.

Secondary Dominants- Write Better Chord Progressions! [MUSIC THEORY / SONGWRITING]

33 related questions found

Are secondary dominants always major?

No, secondary dominants aren't required to be seventh chords. They can be plain triads (e.g. V/vi). They also aren't required to be major or have a major triad--I've heard plenty of vii°7/V chords, and those are diminished 7th chords.

What are extended dominants?

An extended dominant chord is a dominant chord with a width that extends beyond an octave. Basic dominant chords may include the dominant triad and the dominant seventh chord, while extended chords have widths that extend beyond an octave to a ninth, eleventh, or thirteenth.

Is a secondary dominant chord diatonic?

A secondary dominant chord is simply a dominant 7th chord that is a fifth higher then any diatonic chord in the key other then the I chord. Let's take the key of C major for example… You already know that the primary dominant chord in the key of C major is G7. G7 is diatonic to the key of C major.

Are secondary dominants predominant?

Examples of predominant chords are the subdominant (IV, iv), supertonic (ii, ii°), Neapolitan sixth and German sixth. Other examples are the secondary dominant (V/V) and secondary leading tone chord. ... Predominant chords both expand away from the tonic and lead to the dominant, affirming the dominant's pull to the tonic.

How do you write secondary dominants in Roman numerals?

As reflected in the Roman Numeral Analysis, secondary dominants are typically written as V/target chord, in this case, V/V. Said aloud, it reads, “five of five.”

How do you expand a dominant?

As can be seen from the harmonic outline, the dominant is prolonged by a combination of:

1. an auxiliary chord I in bar 10, in second inversion (auxiliary 6 4)
2. arpeggiation of the dominant chord along with passing notes in bars 9 and 10, shown by slurs and black note heads.

How do you fix a altered dominant chord?

The resolution of an altered chord differs from the resolution of the regular dominant ninth chord. The altered chord resolves to a minor chord (be it a triad, seventh, or ninth chord) that is a fifth below its root.

Are diminished chords altered chords?

These semitone changes are used to name the basic chord structure, and thus are usually not thought of as "alterations." The other exception in jazz theory is typically diminished sevenths and half-diminished sevenths, which are not usually called "altered chords" even though they contain a lowered fifth.)

Why are secondary dominants always major?

In jazz, a secondary dominant is an application of a dominant 7th chord (1, 3, 5, b7). Does not need to be diatonic to the key in this function. Secondary dominants are always major because secondary dominants are, as the name says dominants.

Why do secondary dominants work?

A secondary dominant is an altered chord having a dominant or leading tone relationship to a chord in the key other than the tonic. An altered chord is a chord containing at least one tone that is foreign to the key. Using secondary dominants results in the tonicization of the chord of resolution.

Do secondary dominants need to resolve?

Secondary dominants often do resolve to their own tonic, but they can also resolve deceptively, an action sometimes hidden with traditional Roman-numeral analysis.

Why does the dominant resolve to the tonic?

Going from a dominant to the chord to which it is a dominant always sounds good to the ear. It feels like the chord leads to the next one. And if the composition or movement is written in a specific key, then when the harmony reaches a dominant chord, you feel a sense of unease and instability.

What are tonic subdominant and dominant chords?

The tonic chord is the first (or root) chord of the key. ... The subdominant chord is the fourth chord of the key. It emphasizes motion away from the tonic chord and sets up the tension. The dominant chord is the fifth chord of the key.

What makes a chord dominant?

A dominant chord is a major triad built on the fifth scale degree of either a major scale or a minor scale. Major triads consist of a root note, a major third, and a perfect fifth. A dominant seventh chord adds an additional scale degree—the flat seventh (also called a dominant seventh).

What is a functional secondary dominant chord?

A secondary dominant is any chord that has the dominant function over another chord that is not the tonic of the song. For example, in the key of C major, the dominant chord is G7. ... They are auxiliary chords, they only serve to “prepare” a progression for some other degree of the key.

How do you identify Tonicization?

Applied chords are notated with a slash. The chord before the slash is the identity of the applied chord within the secondary key , and the chord after the slash is the chord being tonicized.