Happy Birthday Emily Cooper

Played over the phone - Sara and Sean sang along

(shh! copyright!)

this is awesome

i like the secondary dominants and minor chord on the third "happy birthday...". hilarious harmonies, too. yay! Gabemcelwain 12:22, 27 July 2007 (PDT)

which part is the secondary dominants? i asked google what those were but i'm still not sure. the minor chord was sean's (excellent) idea.:) Sara 21:05, 27 July 2007 (PDT)

secondary dominants?

according to my old music theory book, a secondary dominant is a chord that is not in the key you're playing in, but has a dominant relationship to one of the chords that are in the key. for instance, in the key of D, A is the dominant chord (fifth scale degree, the chord based on it is called by the roman numeral, V). But in the key of A, E is the dominant chord (fifth scale degree, etc.). So if you were in the key of D, and you played and E and then an A, you could be said to have used a secondary dominant. The way those two chords would be notated by analysis people in that context would be V/V V, or "five of five, five". The dominant of the dominant, then the dominant. You can play secondary dominants of other chords, too, I think. V/IV to IV, V/ii to ii. Does that make any sense? Basically, it's a chord borrowed from another key that wants to resolve to a chord that's in the key you're in. F# major in your birthday song sounds that way to me, since it should be f# minor (iii) in the key of D. even though you resolve it up to G rather than to b, of which F# is the dominant.

woof, sorry about all that. there's a reason i don't teach music. i barely understand it myself. if anybody on this wiki wants to explain it better, please feel free! (DK I'm looking in your direction...)Gabemcelwain 19:25, 29 July 2007 (PDT)