62. Secondary Dominants (5): Practice 2

Thinking about the melody

Partial modulation and melody

You should now understand that "partially modulating = borrowing chords from another key."
But couldn't we also take the view that the melody played over that chord could also take notes from another key's scale?

This is often explained together with concepts such as "available note scales" and "parent scales," but this time we will focus on new melodic possibilities and concentrate on what we can do with what we have learned so far.

Following the Canon progression last time, I've prepared the progression known as the "royal road progression," which appeared in lessons 23 and 26.

IV→V→IIIm→VIm

IVmaj7→V7→IIIm7→VIm7

IVmaj7→V→IIIm7→VIm7

This time, in Key = C major, we'll use IVmaj7→V→IIIm7→VIm as the basic chord progression.
First, create a version that repeats this progression twice.

I've prepared a melody like this for the first half.

Let's listen to it together with the chords from before.

Bringing in a secondary dominant chord

Next, let's use a secondary dominant at the boxed section in the second pass.

V7/VI

E7→Am7

E→Am

E7→Am

Patterns like these are possible.

This time I've put E7 in place of Em7.
Let's give it a listen.

Arranging the melody

Now, let's pay attention to the chord tones.

The key is C, but note that because we're using E7, a secondary dominant and a type of partial modulation, the chord tones include G#.
Let's use this note (G#) in the melody.

I added a melody like this.

Let's check them together.
✳︎ The melody has been raised one octave so that it doesn't overlap when shown at the same time.

If you have the knowledge from harmonic minor and melodic minor, it seems you can do the above even without scale theory.

Let's also try it with a different chord progression, again in Key = C.

Let's keep in mind B♭, a chord tone of the secondary dominant "C7," and put a melody over it too.

Of course, if you have the scale knowledge touched on in the first half, the way you see it changes a little.
Even so, first try using your knowledge of avoid notes and harmonic and melodic minor to step outside the usual notes in your melody too, and challenge yourself to new expressions.
Next time we'll again bring secondary dominants into chord progressions, but we'll analyze and check a use that's different from anything so far.

Frequently asked questions

Q1. What is the point of using a secondary dominant's chord tones in the melody?

By working a note specific to the secondary dominant chord (for example, the G# in E7) into the melody, the chord and melody feel unified, giving a sophisticated sound with more tension. You can express the sound of the new key created by partial modulation at the level of the melody.

Q2. When using a secondary dominant, which scale should I choose melody notes from?

We recommend first paying attention to the secondary dominant's chord tones and building the melody using knowledge such as harmonic minor and melodic minor. After that, bringing in scale theory such as avoid notes allows even freer expression.

Q3. What is the trick to working a secondary dominant into the royal road progression?

It's effective to introduce it where the listener has already gotten used to the first chord progression, such as the second pass. In the article's example, with the progression "IVmaj7→V→IIIm7→VIm," V7/VI is inserted before the final VIm to create natural tension.