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I like the sound of all of your exercises. You use all the secondary dominants well.
However I think the way you are using the minor v chord is affecting your sense of tonality. As I know you understand, the v chord is a modal phenomenon. It hardly tonicizes the i chord at all; in other words it does not at all fulfill the dominant function or any other tonal function for that matter.
This is an excellent example of the more general approach to harmony described in our first lesson.
Modal music in the minor modes from the Renaissance and early Baroque frequently utilizes the lowered seventh degree in sonorities like VII and v and III. These sounds, however, do not reaffirm the minor tonic. If anything, from time to time they will imply the relative major mode. More often a totally different "modal flavor" is imparted since even those dominant tendencies might not be followed to resolution... until the very end of the phrase, where a leading tone is artificially created in V or vii* to cadence onto i.
My favorite music is based on the old modes and I consciously adopt modal progressions in my music, so I applaud any use of modality in music. Your VII and v chords, however, are sending some of your exercises to the relative major.
Your second exercise is a classic example of what I tried to explain in my first lesson. You begin on a c minor chord and have three flats in your signature, so this must be in c minor, right?
You already know the answer: No. You do begin on a c minor chord. But then you move to a VII chord, a chord that lacks a leading tone and challenges the c minor feel. In fact, any major chord can be a dominant, and this one follows that tendency, although deceptively. You labeled the first three chords i VII6 i, but much more likely they sound like vi V6 vi6 in Eb Major. The minor v chord that follows worsens things further, and finally we see V7/III... or simply put, V in Eb Major. In fact this second exercise is attracted from the very start to Eb Major, never to c minor.
Your first exercise is more typical of modal music in that although the relative major is at first hinted at with the minor v chord, eventually a true dominant V chord appears to keep things in c minor.
The third exercise is nice, but what I was showing you originally was a varied deceptive cadence, V V/VI VI. Your secondary dominant is used well, but there is no deceptive cadence anywhere because there is no dominant - you used v once again! And of course such a modal progression is just fine as long as you understand what you are doing.
I have attached a version of your third exercise showing how I would use a true dominant where you used the minor v chord.
Like with the parallel fifths, I am not bothered by this at all. I myself love using v and VII in minor music. But remember that v and VII do not serve any sort of dominant function. So especially if you go ahead and use a secondary dominant right away, the ear may never get a chance to feel the original minor key... which is fine if that's what you intended.
So overall I enjoyed these last exercises and am merely checking to make you understand the affect those v and VII chords produce. Keep using v and VII as well as V and vii* in minor, carefully noting what keys are implied and the overall color and sound.
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DNSIHSXPI
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