Secondary Subdominants

C:

Secondary Subdominantsafter learning about secondary dominants,you might wonder if it’s possible to extend theconcept to other chords.

for example, if we can use a dominant function chordfrom a related key, what about a subdominant function

chord from a related key, like IV of V?

well, the answer is yes, and the chords that result are called secondary subdominants.but before we talk about them, you need to understand a few things.

to approach these chords,use any of the basic root

movements.

the most common way to resolvesecondary subdominants is to

the corresponding secondarydominant.which are awesome.

first of all, the very existence ofthese chords is debatable.

what one theorist might calla secondary subdominant:

another might call ashort modulation.

& œœœœbœœœœ#

œœœœœœœœn

V6 Iii°7

VV4

2

V

C:

C:

G:

& œœœœbœœœœ#

œœœœœœœœn

V6I6

Iii°7 V4

2

second, the only placewe find chords that

we can call secondarysubdominants is in the

music of thexromantic era.x

Lastly, since these chords are alreadypushing the limits of tonality, composerswould only use secondary subdominants

from closely related keys. Inother words, secondary subdominants

should only be “of IV” and “of V.”

ivIV iv

Vkeeping these things in mind, let’s look at the possibilities:

what are all the subdominant function chords we’ve encountered?

first, there arethe diatonic triads:

ii IV

next, the diatonicseventh chords:

ii7 IV7

and, lastly, a fewborrowed chords:

ii° ivii°7

so a secondary subdominant canhave any subdominant function

chord above the slash, anda IV or V below the slash.

however, the most commonlyfound secondary subdominantsare those that use the half-

diminished supertonic seventh.

ii°7

IVii°7

VV7

Vii°7

V

music theory for musicians and normal people by toby w. rush

licensed under a creative commons BY-NC-ND license - visit tobyrush.com for more