1. SECONDARY
DOMINANTS
Jeremy Cohen

2. Background Information
 Secondary Dominants are
similar to diatonic
dominants chords (V7)
 They resolve what is
known as a tritone-tritone
resolution
 Contain the two most
important pitches of a
secondary dominants-M3
and m7
 If they resolve
correctly, they move down

3. Objective of Secondary
Dominants
 Function like a V7 chord (V7/II, V7/III etc.)
 M3 of secondary dominant is leading of chord
it resolves to
 Temporarily tonicize a song
 Non-diatonic pitch will be the M3 or m7

4. “Don’t Know Why”
 “Don’t Know Why” is great example of
secondary dominants
 First example is “Bb7”
 Bb chord usually contains “Bb, D, F and A
(M7)” but this one contains “Bb, D, F and Ab
(m7)”
 The D and Ab is a tritone, creating need for
tritone resolution

5. “Don’t Know Why” cont.
 Bb7 (non-diatonic) resolves correctly to
Ebmaj7 (diatonic)
 Next chord is D7 which has “D, F# (M3), A and
C” instead of D-7“D, F (m3) and C”
 D7 (non-diatonic) resolves to G-7

6. Guide Tone Lines
 Guide tone lines in “Don’t Know Why” outline
chord tones in secondary dominants
 A-Ab over Bbmaj7-Bb7, G-F# over Ebmaj7-D7
etc.
 Note in guide tone line is always non-diatonic
M3 or m7 in secondary dominants

7. The End/Attribution
 http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51z3tmwTXnL._SL500_AA300._jpg
 http://www.flickr.com/photos/apodd/5064195399/
 All visual examples created in Sibelius on
Macbook