Topic 7.2 Part Writing of Secondary Dominant Chords: part-write secondary dominants, resolving the raised leading tone up and the chordal seventh down into the tonicized chord.

What this topic is asking

The College Board (Topic 7.2) wants you to part-write secondary dominants, resolving the borrowed raised leading tone up by step and the chordal seventh down by step into the tonicized chord, spelling the chromatic accidental correctly, and keeping the voice leading free of parallels.

Resolving the borrowed leading tone

Spelling matters: the leading tone of G in C major is F sharp, not G flat, because it must move up to G. Writing it as a flat would imply a downward resolution and break the rule.

Resolving the secondary seventh

This means part-writing a secondary dominant is the same skill as resolving an ordinary V7, applied to a temporary tonic. Find the two tendency tones and let each move by its fixed step.

Why correct spelling and resolution matter

The central idea is that a secondary dominant only sounds like a dominant if its tendency tones resolve, and they only resolve correctly if they are spelled correctly. The raised leading tone is a chromatic note borrowed from the target chord's scale, and its whole purpose is to pull up by a half step into that chord; spelling it as the wrong enharmonic, or resolving it the wrong way, destroys the tonicization and usually creates a voice-leading error. The chordal seventh adds the second pull, downward. When you part-write a secondary dominant, you are simply transplanting the V7-to-I resolution onto a different chord, so the same rules apply: leading tone up, seventh down, other voices smooth, no parallels. Mastering this makes chromatic harmony feel like familiar diatonic voice leading aimed at a new target, which is exactly what the free-response part-writing questions test.

Part-writing a secondary dominant

To part-write a secondary dominant, spell the chord with its raised leading tone and any seventh, identify the two tendency tones, resolve the leading tone up by step and the seventh down by step into the tonicized chord, move the other voices by the smallest step, and check for parallels.

Try this

Q1. How does the raised leading tone of a secondary dominant resolve? [1 point]

• Cue. Up by step, into the root of the tonicized chord, like any leading tone.

Q2. Why must the chromatic accidental be spelled as a raised pitch rather than a lowered one? [2 points]

• Cue. It is a leading tone that must rise by a half step into the target; a raised spelling (such as F sharp) shows the upward resolution, while a flat would imply a downward move and break the rule.