CHAPTER 7 - BASICS

MODULATION

Basics of Modulation.

Following is a description of the some of the basics of modulation (i.e. key change) for those
readers who would find this useful before reading the main text of this chapter. During the course
of this description I will also highlight some of the arguments for viewing modulation in terms of
chord progressions rather than the more conventional approaches which are based around a
description of pivot chords, or degrees of relatedness between keys.

Modulation is the process that pieces of music go through to change the tonal centre from one
key note to another. For example, a piece of music may modulate from C major to G major so
that G takes over (albeit temporarily) from C as the keynote.

Modulation is central to compositional technique in classical music but to a lesser extent in

modern popular music. Much has been written in composition text books, harmony books and
theoretical texts about modulation, probably because the process of key change is reasonably
well understood as it is a consciously learned process for composers. This contrasts with the
organisation of chord progressions into syntactic structures which is largely subconscious. See
the section on linguistics for further discussion on this topic.

The purpose of modulation is to help give music structure, direction and variety. The distance of
the key change varies between periods in musical history and from composer to composer. The
length of the stay in each new key can also vary considerably from a brief stop off (sometimes
referred to as transient modulation or tonicization) to a whole section in a new key (sometimes
referred to as transposition although this can also mean the transfer of a whole piece into a new
key). Sometimes pieces can pass through several keys before settling on a new key centre or
returning to the home key.

Modulation in a piece is often associated with the formal structure of a piece. A piece in a major
key often modulates to its dominant key and there is often a cadence in the dominant at the end
of the first section of the piece. For example, a piece starting in C major often ends its first
section with a cadence in G major. The second section of a piece then takes the music back to the
tonic key either directly or via other related keys.

Pieces in the minor key often move to a cadence in the relative major key at the end of the first
section. For example, a piece in A minor may end its first section with a cadence in C major. The
second section then takes the piece back to the original tonic key.

Modulation and the Pivot Chord

Most basic teaching on the process of modulation concentrates on the role of the pivot chord. A
chord is chosen which is common to the two keys involved. The chord is ambiguous and takes