A secondary chord is an
analytical label for a specific
harmonic
A harmonic is a wave with a frequency that is a positive integer multiple of the ''fundamental frequency'', the frequency of the original periodic signal, such as a sinusoidal wave. The original signal is also called the ''1st harmonic'', the ...
device that is prevalent in the
tonal idiom of
Western music beginning in the
common practice period
In European art music, the common-practice period is the era of the tonal system. Most of its features persisted from the mid- Baroque period through the Classical and Romantic periods, roughly from 1650 to 1900. There was much stylistic evoluti ...
: the use of
diatonic
Diatonic and chromatic are terms in music theory that are most often used to characterize Scale (music), scales, and are also applied to musical instruments, Interval (music), intervals, Chord (music), chords, Musical note, notes, musical sty ...
functions for
tonicization
In music, tonicization is the treatment of a pitch other than the overall tonic (the "home note" of a piece) as a temporary tonic in a composition. In Western music that is tonal, the piece is heard by the listener as being in a certain key. A ...
.
Secondary chords are a type of
altered or
borrowed chord
A borrowed chord (also called mode mixture,Romeo, Sheila (1999). ''Complete Rock Keyboard Method: Mastering Rock Keyboard'', p. 42. . Bouchard, Joe and Romeo, Sheila (2007). ''The Total Rock Keyboardist'', p. 120. Alfred Music. . modal mixture, ...
, chords that are not part of the music piece's
key
Key or The Key may refer to:
Common meanings
* Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm
* Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock
* Key (map ...
. They are the most common sort of altered chord in tonal music.
Secondary chords are referred to by the function they have and the key or chord in which they function. Conventionally, they are written with the notation "''function''/''key''". Thus, the most common secondary chord, the dominant of the dominant, is written "V/V" and read as "five of five" or "the dominant of the dominant". The
major
Major (commandant in certain jurisdictions) is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world. When used unhyphenated and in conjunction with no other indicators ...
or
minor triad
In music theory, a minor chord is a chord that has a root, a minor third, and a perfect fifth. When a chord comprises only these three notes, it is called a minor triad. For example, the minor triad built on C, called a C minor triad, has pitc ...
on any diatonic
scale degree
In music theory, the scale degree is the position of a particular note on a scale relative to the tonic, the first and main note of the scale from which each octave is assumed to begin. Degrees are useful for indicating the size of intervals and ...
may have any secondary function applied to it; secondary functions may even be applied to
diminished triad
In music theory, a diminished triad (also known as the minor flatted fifth) is a triad consisting of two minor thirds above the root. It is a minor triad with a lowered ( flattened) fifth. When using chord symbols, it may be indicated by the s ...
s in some special circumstances.
Secondary chords were not used until the
Baroque period
The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...
and are found more frequently and freely in the
Classical period, even more so in the
Romantic period
Romanticism (also known as the Romantic movement or Romantic era) was an artistic, literary, musical, and intellectual movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century, and in most areas was at its peak in the approximate ...
. Composers began to use them less frequently with the breakdown of conventional harmony in
modern classical music
Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical music, as the term "classical music" also ...
—but secondary dominants are a cornerstone of
popular music
Popular music is music with wide appeal that is typically distributed to large audiences through the music industry. These forms and styles can be enjoyed and performed by people with little or no musical training.Popular Music. (2015). ''Fun ...
and
jazz
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...
in the 20th century.
Secondary dominant
A secondary dominant (also applied dominant, artificial dominant, or borrowed dominant) is a major
triad or dominant
seventh chord
A seventh chord is a chord consisting of a triad plus a note forming an interval of a seventh above the chord's root. When not otherwise specified, a "seventh chord" usually means a dominant seventh chord: a major triad together with a minor ...
built and set to
resolve
Resolve may refer to:
* ''Resolve'' (Lagwagon album)
* ''Resolve'' (Last Tuesday album)
* "Resolve" (song), by the Foo Fighters
*'' The Resolve'', a 1915 American silent short drama film
* "Resolve" (''One Tree Hill'' episode)
*''Resolve'', a Brit ...
to a
scale degree
In music theory, the scale degree is the position of a particular note on a scale relative to the tonic, the first and main note of the scale from which each octave is assumed to begin. Degrees are useful for indicating the size of intervals and ...
other than the
tonic, with the dominant of the dominant (written as V/V or V of V) being the most frequently encountered. The chord that the secondary dominant is the dominant of is said to be a temporarily ''
tonicized chord
In music, tonicization is the treatment of a pitch other than the overall tonic (the "home note" of a piece) as a temporary tonic in a composition. In Western music that is tonal, the piece is heard by the listener as being in a certain key. A ...
''. The secondary dominant is normally, though not always, followed by the tonicized chord. Tonicizations that last longer than a
phrase
In syntax and grammar, a phrase is a group of words or singular word acting as a grammatical unit. For instance, the English expression "the very happy squirrel" is a noun phrase which contains the adjective phrase "very happy". Phrases can consi ...
are generally regarded as
modulations to a new key (or new tonic).
According to music theorists David Beach and Ryan C. McClelland, "
e purpose of the secondary dominant is to place emphasis on a chord within the diatonic progression." The secondary-dominant terminology is still usually applied even if the chord resolution is
nonfunctional. For example, the V/ii label is still used even if the V/ii chord is not followed by ii.
Definition
The
major scale
The major scale (or Ionian mode) is one of the most commonly used musical scales, especially in Western music. It is one of the diatonic scales. Like many musical scales, it is made up of seven notes: the eighth duplicates the first at double i ...
contains seven basic chords, which are named with
Roman numeral analysis
In music theory, Roman numeral analysis is a type of musical analysis in which chords are represented by Roman numerals (I, II, III, IV, …). In some cases, Roman numerals denote scale degrees themselves. More commonly, however, they represent t ...
in ascending order. Because tonic triads are either major or minor, one would not expect to find diminished chords (either the vii in major or the ii in minor) tonicized by a secondary dominant.
It would also not make sense for the tonic of the key itself to be tonicized.
In the
key
Key or The Key may refer to:
Common meanings
* Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm
* Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock
* Key (map ...
of C major, the five remaining chords are:
:
Of these chords, the V chord (G major) is said to be the
dominant of C major. However, each of the chords from ii to vi also has its own dominant. For example, V (G major) has a D major triad as its dominant. These extra dominant chords are not part of the key of C major as such because they include notes that are not part of the C major scale. Instead, they are secondary dominants.
The notation below shows the secondary-dominant chords for C major. Each chord is accompanied by its standard number in harmonic notation. In this notation, a secondary dominant is usually labeled with the formula "V of ..." (dominant chord of); thus "V of ii" stands for the dominant of the ii chord, "V of iii" for the dominant of iii, and so on. A shorter notation, used below, is "V/ii", "V/iii", etc.
:
Like most chords, secondary dominants may be
seventh chord
A seventh chord is a chord consisting of a triad plus a note forming an interval of a seventh above the chord's root. When not otherwise specified, a "seventh chord" usually means a dominant seventh chord: a major triad together with a minor ...
s or chords with other upper
extensions
Extension, extend or extended may refer to:
Mathematics
Logic or set theory
* Axiom of extensionality
* Extensible cardinal
* Extension (model theory)
* Extension (predicate logic), the set of tuples of values that satisfy the predicate
* Ex ...
.
Dominant seventh chord
In music theory, a dominant seventh chord, or major minor seventh chord, is a seventh chord, usually built on the fifth degree of the major scale, and composed of a root, major third, perfect fifth, and minor seventh. Thus it is a major triad tog ...
s are commonly used as secondary dominants. The notation below shows the same secondary dominants as above but with dominant seventh chords.
:
Note that the triad V/IV is the same as the I triad. When a
seventh
Seventh is the ordinal form of the number seven.
Seventh may refer to:
* Seventh Amendment to the United States Constitution
* A fraction (mathematics), , equal to one of seven equal parts
Film and television
*"The Seventh", a second-season e ...
is added (V
7/IV), it becomes an altered chord because the seventh is not a diatonic pitch.
Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. Beethoven remains one of the most admired composers in the history of Western music; his works rank amongst the most performed of the classical ...
's
Symphony No. 1 begins with a V
7/IV chord:
:
According to the principles exposed above, in fact, V
7/IV, which means the C
7 chord, i.e. the dominant seventh chord on the
F major scale (C–E–G–B♭), does not represent the tonic because it contains a B♭, which isn't included in the main key, as Beethoven's Symphony No. 1 is written in the key of C major. The chord then resolves on the natural IV (
F major
F major (or the key of F) is a major scale based on F, with the pitches F, G, A, B, C, D, and E. Its key signature has one flat. Its relative minor is D minor and its parallel minor is F minor
F minor is a minor scale based on F, consis ...
) and in the following bar the V
7, i.e. G
7 (dominant seventh chord on the C major key), is presented.
Chromatic mediant
In music, chromatic mediants are "altered mediant and submediant chords." A chromatic mediant relationship defined conservatively is a relationship between two sections and/or chords whose roots are related by a major third or minor third, and con ...
s, for example VI is also a secondary dominant of ii (V/ii) and III is V/vi, are distinguished from secondary dominants with context and
analysis
Analysis ( : analyses) is the process of breaking a complex topic or substance into smaller parts in order to gain a better understanding of it. The technique has been applied in the study of mathematics and logic since before Aristotle (38 ...
revealing the distinction.
History
Before the 20th century, in the music of
J.S. Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach (28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late baroque music, Baroque period. He is known for his orchestral music such as the ''Brandenburg Concertos''; instrumental compositions such as the Cello Suite ...
,
Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 17565 December 1791), baptised as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. Despite his short life, his ra ...
,
Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. Beethoven remains one of the most admired composers in the history of Western music; his works rank amongst the most performed of the classical ...
, and
Brahms
Johannes Brahms (; 7 May 1833 – 3 April 1897) was a German composer, pianist, and conductor of the mid-Romantic period. Born in Hamburg into a Lutheran family, he spent much of his professional life in Vienna. He is sometimes grouped with ...
, a secondary dominant, along with its chord of resolution, was considered a modulation. Since this was a rather self-contradictory description, theorists in the early 1900s, such as
Hugo Riemann
Karl Wilhelm Julius Hugo Riemann (18 July 1849 – 10 July 1919) was a German musicologist and composer who was among the founders of modern musicology. The leading European music scholar of his time, he was active and influential as both a musi ...
(who used the term "Zwischendominante"—"intermediary dominant", still the usual German term for a secondary dominant), searched for a better description of the phenomenon.
Walter Piston
Walter Hamor Piston, Jr. (January 20, 1894 – November 12, 1976), was an American composer of classical music, music theorist, and professor of music at Harvard University.
Life
Piston was born in Rockland, Maine at 15 Ocean Street to Walter Ha ...
first used the analysis "V
7 of IV" in a monograph entitled ''Principles of Harmonic Analysis''. (Notably, Piston's analytical symbol always used the word "of"—e.g. "V
7 of IV" rather than the
virgule
Virgule ('twig') may refer to:
* A "''/'' " used to mark line breaks
* Secondary chord
A secondary chord is an analytical label for a specific harmonic device that is prevalent in the tonal idiom of Western music beginning in the common pra ...
"V
7/IV.) In his 1941 book ''Harmony'', Piston used the term "secondary dominant". At around the same time (1946–48),
Arnold Schoenberg
Arnold Schoenberg or Schönberg (, ; ; 13 September 187413 July 1951) was an Austrian-American composer, music theorist, teacher, writer, and painter. He is widely considered one of the most influential composers of the 20th century. He was as ...
created the expression "artificial dominant" to describe the same phenomenon, in his posthumously published book ''Structural Functions of Harmony''.
In the fifth edition of Walter Piston's ''Harmony'', a passage from the last movement of
Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 17565 December 1791), baptised as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. Despite his short life, his ra ...
's
Piano Sonata K. 283 in G major serves as one illustration of secondary dominants. This passage has three secondary dominants. The final four chords form a
circle of fifths
In music theory, the circle of fifths is a way of organizing the 12 chromatic pitches as a sequence of perfect fifths. (This is strictly true in the standard 12-tone equal temperament system — using a different system requires one interval ...
progression, ending in a standard dominant-tonic
cadence
In Western musical theory, a cadence (Latin ''cadentia'', "a falling") is the end of a phrase in which the melody or harmony creates a sense of full or partial resolution, especially in music of the 16th century onwards.Don Michael Randel (1999) ...
, which concludes the
phrase
In syntax and grammar, a phrase is a group of words or singular word acting as a grammatical unit. For instance, the English expression "the very happy squirrel" is a noun phrase which contains the adjective phrase "very happy". Phrases can consi ...
.
:
In jazz and popular music
In
jazz harmony
Jazz harmony is the theory and practice of how chords are used in jazz music. Jazz bears certain similarities to other practices in the tradition of Western harmony, such as many chord progressions, and the incorporation of the major and minor ...
, a secondary dominant is any dominant seventh chord 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. This is slightly different from the traditional use of the term, where a secondary dominant does not have to be a seventh chord, occur on a weak beat, or resolve downward. If a non-diatonic dominant chord is used on a strong beat, it is considered an
extended dominant. If it doesn't resolve downward, it may be a
borrowed chord
A borrowed chord (also called mode mixture,Romeo, Sheila (1999). ''Complete Rock Keyboard Method: Mastering Rock Keyboard'', p. 42. . Bouchard, Joe and Romeo, Sheila (2007). ''The Total Rock Keyboardist'', p. 120. Alfred Music. . modal mixture, ...
.
Secondary dominants are used in jazz harmony in the
bebop blues
The 12-bar blues (or blues changes) is one of the most prominent chord progressions in popular music. The blues progression has a distinctive form in lyrics, phrase, chord structure, and duration. In its basic form, it is predominantly based on ...
and other
blues progression
The 12-bar blues (or blues changes) is one of the most prominent chord progressions in popular music. The blues progression has a distinctive form in lyrics, phrase, chord structure, and duration. In its basic form, it is predominantly based on ...
variations, as are
substitute dominants and
turnarounds.
In some jazz tunes, all or almost all of the chords that are used are dominant chords. For example, in the standard jazz chord progression
ii–V–I, which would normally be Dm–G
7–C in the key of C major, some tunes will use D
7–G
7–C
7. Since jazz tunes are often based on the circle of fifths, this creates long sequences of secondary dominants.
Secondary dominants are also used in popular music. Examples include II
7 (V
7/V) in
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan, born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Often regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture during a career sp ...
's "
Don't Think Twice, It's All Right
"Don't Think Twice, It's All Right" is a song written by Bob Dylan in 1962, recorded on November 14 that year, and released on the 1963 album ''The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan'' and as the b-side of the ''Blowin' in the Wind'' single. The song was cov ...
" and III
7 (V
7/vi) in
Betty Everett
Betty Jean Everett (November 23, 1939 – August 19, 2001) was an American soul singer and pianist, best known for her biggest hit single, the million-selling " Shoop Shoop Song (It's In His Kiss)", and her duet " Let It Be Me" with Jerry Butler ...
's "
The Shoop Shoop Song (It's in His Kiss)
"It's in His Kiss" is a song written and composed by Rudy Clark. It was first released as a single in 1963 by Merry Clayton that did not chart. The song was made a hit a year later when recorded by Betty Everett, who hit No. 1 on the ''Cashbox' ...
". "
Five Foot Two, Eyes of Blue" features chains of secondary dominants. "
Sweet Georgia Brown
"Sweet Georgia Brown" is a jazz standard composed in 1925 by Ben Bernie and Maceo Pinkard, with lyrics by Kenneth Casey.
History
Reportedly, Ben Bernie came up with the concept for the song's lyrics – although he is not the credited lyricist ...
" opens with V/V/V–V/V–V–I.
Extended dominant
An extended dominant chord is a secondary dominant seventh chord that
resolves down by a fifth to another dominant seventh chord. A series of extended dominant chords continues to resolve downwards by the circle of fifths until it reaches the
tonic chord
Tonic may refer to:
*Tonic water, a drink traditionally containing quinine
*Soft drink, a carbonated beverage
*Tonic (physiology), the response of a muscle fiber or nerve ending typified by slow, continuous action
* Tonic syllable, the stressed syl ...
. The most common extended dominant chord is the tertiary dominant, which resolves to a secondary dominant. For example, V/V/V (in C major, A
(7)) resolves to V/V (D
(7)), which resolves to V (G
(7)), which resolves to I. Note that V/V/V is the same chord as V/ii, but differs in its resolution to a major dominant rather than a minor chord.
Quaternary dominants are rarer, but an example is the bridge section of the
rhythm changes
Rhythm changes are a common 32-bar chord progression in jazz, originating as the chord progression for George Gershwin's "I Got Rhythm". The progression is in AABA form, with each A section based on repetitions of the ubiquitous I–vi–ii–V s ...
, which starts from V/V/V/V (in C major, E
(7)). The example below from
Chopin's
Polonaises, Op. 26, No. 1 (1835)
[Benward & Saker (2003), p. 276.] has a quaternary dominant in the second beat (V/ii = V/V/V, V/vi = V/V/V/V).
:
Secondary leading-tone
In
music theory
Music theory is the study of the practices and possibilities of music. ''The Oxford Companion to Music'' describes three interrelated uses of the term "music theory". The first is the "rudiments", that are needed to understand music notation (ke ...
, a secondary leading-tone chord is a secondary chord that is
rooted on a tone that is a
leading-tone
In music theory, a leading-tone (also called a subsemitone, and a leading-note in the UK) is a note or pitch which resolves or "leads" to a note one semitone higher or lower, being a lower and upper leading-tone, respectively. Typically, ''the ...
of (in short, has a strong affinity to
resolve
Resolve may refer to:
* ''Resolve'' (Lagwagon album)
* ''Resolve'' (Last Tuesday album)
* "Resolve" (song), by the Foo Fighters
*'' The Resolve'', a 1915 American silent short drama film
* "Resolve" (''One Tree Hill'' episode)
*''Resolve'', a Brit ...
to) a tone just 1 semitone from that root (typically 1 semitone above, though
can be below).
[Benward & Saker (2003), p. 271] Like the
secondary ''dominant'' it can be used as
tonicization
In music, tonicization is the treatment of a pitch other than the overall tonic (the "home note" of a piece) as a temporary tonic in a composition. In Western music that is tonal, the piece is heard by the listener as being in a certain key. A ...
of only one subsequent chord (which will be rooted in the resolution tone), or the music can continue with other chords/notes in the key of that chord's root for a phrase, or even longer to be considered a
modulation
In electronics and telecommunications, modulation is the process of varying one or more properties of a periodic waveform, called the ''carrier signal'', with a separate signal called the ''modulation signal'' that typically contains informatio ...
to that key. This one-semitone-apart resolution of the secondary ''leading-tone'' is in contrast to the secondary ''dominant'' which
resolves through a wider distance of perfect fifth below or perfect fourth above the chord's root (as per the two distances between
dominant and tonic).
While the root of a secondary leading-tone chord needs to be the leading-tone, the other notes may vary and form with it one of: the
triad or one of the
diminished sevenths (as in seventh
scale degree
In music theory, the scale degree is the position of a particular note on a scale relative to the tonic, the first and main note of the scale from which each octave is assumed to begin. Degrees are useful for indicating the size of intervals and ...
[Blatter, Alfred (2007). ''Revisiting Music Theory: A Guide to the Practice'', pp. 132–133. .] or
leading-tone
In music theory, a leading-tone (also called a subsemitone, and a leading-note in the UK) is a note or pitch which resolves or "leads" to a note one semitone higher or lower, being a lower and upper leading-tone, respectively. Typically, ''the ...
, not necessarily seventh chord) where the type of the diminished seventh is typically related to the type of tonicized triad:
# If the tonicized triad is minor, the leading-tone chord is fully diminished seventh chord.
# If it is major, the leading-tone chord may be either half-diminished or fully diminished, though fully diminished chords are used more often.
Because of their symmetry, secondary leading-tone diminished seventh chords are also useful for
modulation
In electronics and telecommunications, modulation is the process of varying one or more properties of a periodic waveform, called the ''carrier signal'', with a separate signal called the ''modulation signal'' that typically contains informatio ...
; all four notes may be considered the
root
In vascular plants, the roots are the organs of a plant that are modified to provide anchorage for the plant and take in water and nutrients into the plant body, which allows plants to grow taller and faster. They are most often below the sur ...
of any diminished seventh chord. They may
resolve
Resolve may refer to:
* ''Resolve'' (Lagwagon album)
* ''Resolve'' (Last Tuesday album)
* "Resolve" (song), by the Foo Fighters
*'' The Resolve'', a 1915 American silent short drama film
* "Resolve" (''One Tree Hill'' episode)
*''Resolve'', a Brit ...
to these
major
Major (commandant in certain jurisdictions) is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world. When used unhyphenated and in conjunction with no other indicators ...
or
minor
Minor may refer to:
* Minor (law), a person under the age of certain legal activities.
** A person who has not reached the age of majority
* Academic minor, a secondary field of study in undergraduate education
Music theory
*Minor chord
** Barb ...
diatonic triads:
:In
major key
In music theory, the key of a piece is the group of pitches, or scale, that forms the basis of a musical composition in classical, Western art, and Western pop music.
The group features a '' tonic note'' and its corresponding ''chords'', al ...
s:
ii,
iii,
IV, V,
vi
:In
minor key
In Western music, the adjectives major and minor may describe a chord, scale, or key. As such, composition, movement, section, or phrase may be referred to by its key, including whether that key is major or minor.
Intervals
Some intervals may ...
s: III, iv, V, VI
Especially in
four-part writing, the
seventh
Seventh is the ordinal form of the number seven.
Seventh may refer to:
* Seventh Amendment to the United States Constitution
* A fraction (mathematics), , equal to one of seven equal parts
Film and television
*"The Seventh", a second-season e ...
should resolve downwards by
step
Step(s) or STEP may refer to:
Common meanings
* Stairs#Step, Steps, making a staircase
* Walking
* Dance move
* Military step, or march
** Marching
Arts Films and television
* Steps (TV series), ''Steps'' (TV series), Hong Kong
* Step (film), ' ...
and if possible the lower
tritone
In music theory, the tritone is defined as a musical interval composed of three adjacent whole tones (six semitones). For instance, the interval from F up to the B above it (in short, F–B) is a tritone as it can be decomposed into the three a ...
should resolve appropriately, inwards if a
diminished fifth
Diminished may refer to:
*Diminution
In Western music and music theory, diminution (from Medieval Latin ''diminutio'', alteration of Latin ''deminutio'', decrease) has four distinct meanings. Diminution may be a form of embellishment in which ...
and outwards if an
augmented fourth
Augment or augmentation may refer to:
Language
*Augment (Indo-European), a syllable added to the beginning of the word in certain Indo-European languages
*Augment (Bantu languages), a morpheme that is prefixed to the noun class prefix of nouns i ...
, as the example below shows.
:
Secondary leading-tone chords were not used until the
Baroque period
The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...
and are found more frequently and less conventionally in the
Classical period. They are found even more frequently and freely in the
Romantic period
Romanticism (also known as the Romantic movement or Romantic era) was an artistic, literary, musical, and intellectual movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century, and in most areas was at its peak in the approximate ...
, but they began to be used less frequently with the breakdown of conventional harmony.
The chord progression vii/V–V–I is quite common in
ragtime
Ragtime, also spelled rag-time or rag time, is a musical style that flourished from the 1890s to 1910s. Its cardinal trait is its syncopated or "ragged" rhythm. Ragtime was popularized during the early 20th century by composers such as Scott ...
music.
Secondary supertonic
The secondary supertonic chord, or secondary second, is a secondary chord that is on the
supertonic
In music, the supertonic is the second degree () of a diatonic scale, one whole step above the tonic. In the movable do solfège system, the supertonic note is sung as ''re''.
The triad built on the supertonic note is called the supertonic chor ...
scale degree
In music theory, the scale degree is the position of a particular note on a scale relative to the tonic, the first and main note of the scale from which each octave is assumed to begin. Degrees are useful for indicating the size of intervals and ...
. Rather than
tonicizing a degree other than the
tonic, as does a secondary dominant, it creates a temporary dominant.
Examples include ii
7/III (Fmin.
7, in C major).
[Russo, William (1961/2015). ''Composing for the Jazz Orchestra'', p.80. University of Chicago. .]
Secondary subdominant
The secondary subdominant is the
subdominant
In music, the subdominant is the fourth tonal degree () of the diatonic scale. It is so called because it is the same distance ''below'' the tonic as the dominant is ''above'' the tonicin other words, the tonic is the dominant of the subdomina ...
(IV) of the tonicized chord. For example, in C major, the subdominant chord is F major and the IV of IV chord is B major.
Others
The other secondary functions are the secondary mediant, the secondary submediant, and the secondary subtonic.
See also
*
Barbershop seventh chord
The harmonic seventh chord is a major triad plus the harmonic seventh interval (ratio of 7:4, about 968.826 centsBosanquet, Robert Holford Macdowall (1876). ''An elementary treatise on musical intervals and temperament'', pp. 41-42. Diapason P ...
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Backdoor progression
In jazz and jazz harmony, the chord progression from iv7 to VII7 to I (the tonic or "home" chord) has been nicknamed the backdoor progressionCoker, Jerry (1997). ''Elements of the Jazz Language for the Developing Improvisor'', p.82. . "Back Door ...
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Circle progression
A circle is a shape consisting of all points in a plane that are at a given distance from a given point, the centre. Equivalently, it is the curve traced out by a point that moves in a plane so that its distance from a given point is const ...
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Common-tone diminished seventh chord
The diminished seventh chord is a four-note chord (a seventh chord) composed of a root note, together with a minor third, a diminished fifth, and a diminished seventh above the root: (1, 3, 5, 7). For example, the diminished seventh ...
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ii–V–I progression
The ii–V–I progression ("two–five–one progression") (occasionally referred to as ii–V–I turnaround, and ii–V–I) is a common cadential chord progression used in a wide variety of music genres, including jazz harmony. It is a succe ...
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Secondary development A secondary development, in music, is a section that appears in certain musical movements written in sonata form. The secondary development resembles a development section in its musical texture, but is shorter and occurs as a kind of excursion wit ...
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Subtonic
In music, the subtonic is the degree of a musical scale which is a whole step below the tonic note. In a major key, it is a lowered, or flattened, seventh scale degree (). It appears as the seventh scale degree in the natural minor and descendin ...
References
Further reading
*Nettles, Barrie & Graf, Richard (1997). ''The Chord Scale Theory and Jazz Harmony''. Advance Music,
*Thompson, David M. (1980). ''A History of Harmonic Theory in the United States''. Kent, Ohio: The Kent State University Press.
{{Chromaticism
Chromaticism
Diatonic functions
Dominant chords