I understand that in the case of diminished chords, it lessens the dissonance of the tritone. But in the supertonic, would the root position be much better since it would be a bass movement of a fifth in a 2-5-1 cadence? (like D, G, C)
Recently, I came across an artilcle discussing the popularity of the supertonic (2nd scale degree) in pop melodies. I want to apply this concept in my own compositions, but I'm not sure how I'd use it in a minor scale. Should I still lean heavily on the 2nd degree, or should I play the 2 of the relative major (aka the 4th)? Wikipedia says the former, but it seems like it would clash heavily with the iv and bVI chords.
In other words, if my song is written in B minor. Is the supertonic note C# or is it E?
Can anyone fill in the blank? What do you call this system of naming scale degrees? Perhaps something along the lines of 'functional names'?
Edit: thank you for your posts. This has really shifted my perspective. To summarize, these names are best used in the context of directional/functional harmony and chords. I might consider refraining from calling scale degree two the supertonic, etc... from now on.
Even then, there is no consensus on what to call these names. So I will exercise my non-existent authority to hereby name them ‘functional names’ (yeah I know that’s what I already called them earlier but my post, my rules /s).
Thank you to everyone who’s participating with good spirit to the discussion!
And does a progression of ii-I then also qualify as a plagal cadence (usually IV-I)? Would this also work in a minor key, where the ii is diminished?
Could you guys kindly explain why is that so?
I'm studying jazz in uni, in my harmony class we are learning about secondary supertonics but I don't quite understand them. I know about secondary dominants but this is confusing to me.
From what I understand it's a ii chord that leads to a secondary dominant chord with the purpose of modulation, but I might be wrong.
If you could explain it to me I would really appreciate it :D
Hey guys, so I saw that people call the different scale degrees
diff names
So in C major
instead of C chord, D chord
or 1 chord 2 chord
They say Tonic chord, supertonic chord
But whats the purpose of this naming usage?
The only difference I can see is that when it get to dominant(only dom 7)
does it change from a triad to R-3-5-7b
but thats it? what about the rest of them? arent they all just major triads when its left at 3 chord tones?
I'm studying jazz in uni, in my harmony class we are learning about secondary supertonics but I don't quite understand them. I know about secondary dominants but this is confusing to me.
From what I understand it's a ii chord that leads to a secondary dominant chord with the purpose of modulation, but I might be wrong.
If you could explain it to me I would really appreciate it :D
