Secondary Subdominants
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1music theory for musicians and normal people by toby w. rush
Secondary Subdominants
after learning about secondary dominants,
you might wonder if it’s possible to extend the
concept to other chords.
for example, if we can use a dominant function chord
from 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.
first of all, the very existence of
these chords is debatable.
second, the only place
what one theorist might call
we find chords that
a secondary subdominant:
œ œ
œ œ
œ œ
we can call secondary
& œ œ œ
œ œ #
b
œ œ n
œ œ
subdominants is in the
œ
music of
thex
romantic
era.x
7
4
6
C:
ii°
V
V
I
C:
2
V
V
iv
another might call a
short modulation.
œ œ
œ œ
œ œ œ
Lastly, since these chords are already
& œ œ œ
œ #
b
œ œ n
IV iv
œ œ
pushing the limits of tonality, composers
œ
would only use secondary subdominants
from closely related keys. In
other words, secondary subdominants
V
7
4
6
G:
ii°
V
I
should only be “of IV” and “of V.”
2
6
V
I
C:
keeping these things in mind, let’s look at the possibilities:
what are all the subdominant function chords we’ve encountered?
next, the diatonic
first, there are
and, lastly, a few
the diatonic triads:
seventh chords:
borrowed chords:
7
7
7
ii IV
ii
IV
ii°
ii°
iv
7
7
ii°
ii°
so a secondary subdominant can
have any subdominant function
chord above the slash, and
a IV or V below the slash.
IV
V
however, the most commonly
found secondary subdominants
are those that use the half-
diminished supertonic seventh.
to approach these chords,
the most common way to resolve
7
7
use any of the basic root
ii°
V
secondary subdominants is to
movements.
the corresponding secondary
V
V
dominant.
which are awesome.
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