March 21-The plot has thickened for my project. Recently, in my AP Music Theory class, we have been discussing the usage of secondary function chords. (I'm about to go into 'music nerd talk' for a few sentences, so if something is unclear, please ask me a question in the comments).
Secondary function chords are used to establish a new tonic key in a piece of music, without changing the key signature. For example, if I were playing a piece of music in A Major, and suddenly there was a B Major chord, this would be a secondary function.
The members of a B Major chord do not all appear in an A Major scale (they are not diatonic), so accidentals are used to alter the quality (major or minor) of a chord. The chord that leads to I (1) in A Major is V (5). The V chord in A Major is E Major.
So to make a piece interesting and establish V as the new tonic, I would write a V/V (5 of 5) chord. This is where the B Major chord is used as the V in E major.
Wow...did you catch all that? If not, let me know.
When my alma mater is finished, you should definitely look for some secondary function chords. (Don't worry, I'll help you find them!)
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