Harmony 2

Week 3

Learning Outcomes

• By the end of today’s session, students will be able to:

• Identify, analyse and construct secondary dominants

• Identify the available tensions for secondary dominants and use tensions in a chord progression

• Understand the links between harmonic rhythm and chord function

Secondary Dominants

• What is a secondary dominant? • How do we analyse secondary dominants?

When I Was Your Man

• Bruno Mars

IV V VIm V7/IV

IV IVm I IV

V7/V IIm7

V

Tensions

• What are tensions?

• What is the rule of thumb for working out available tensions?

• Non-chord tones which are diatonic• A major-ninth above a chord tone

Available Tensions – Secondary Dominants

• The potential tensions for secondary dominants will reflect the diatonic function of the chord.

• See page 4 of your Harmony book• See Worksheet 1

Exceptions:

• With dominant chords only:– b9 and b13 (pitches which are a minor 9th above

chord tones) are available if they are diatonic– #9 may coexist with b9 if one (or both) are

diatonic

WORKSHEETS

• Work through Worksheet 1 in pairs or small groups.

Activity

• Download the secondary dominant chord progression under the Week 3 tab on Moodle.

• Analyse the progression• Figure out the available tensions for each chord• Rewrite the progression using tensions on all of

the chords (use the ‘realise chord symbol’ function on Sibelius, or Band-in-a-box)

• Submit your progression to the forum on Moodle

Harmonic Rhythm

• The number of beats per chord within a progression is called harmonic rhythm

• See page 6 of your Harmony 2 text.

In 4/4 time, the typical rhythms are 2,4 and 8 beats per chord

1. 2 beats per chord

2. 4 beats per chord

3. 8 beats per chord

In 3/4 time, the common rhythms are 3 or 6 beats per chord

1. 3 beats per chord

2. 6 beats per chord

• Chords in a progression will receive a strong or weak stress, depending on their placement

• The relative strength of stress will often determine the chord’s function.

• See page 7 of your Harmony 2 text

Stress Patterns

S - the first pulse is the strongestW - the second pulse is not as weak as the lasts - the third pulse is not as strong as the firstw - the last pulse is the weakest

Cadences

• Cadences will most often occur from a weak beat to a strong beat

• The diatonic V7 will usually be found on a weak stress point

• Followed by the tonic on a strong stressed beat

• See page 8 of your Harmony 2 text

• Generally: Dominant resolution occurs from weak stress to stronger stress

• This also occurs during secondary dominant resolution

• See page 9 of your Harmony 2 text.