April 1, 2025 • 29 mins
In this episode of The Harmonious Blacksmith, we dive deep into key changes and modulation—two fundamental concepts that every musician, music theorist, and music student should understand. Whether you're a guitarist, pianist, or composer, mastering key changes can elevate your compositions and performances. We'll explore different types of modulation, such as pivot chord modulation, direct modulation, and common tone modulation, and how they can transform a piece of music.
Throughout this episode, we’ll break down how modulation affects the overall harmony and emotional impact of music, giving you the tools to use key changes creatively in your own work. Whether you're studying music theory or are a seasoned musician, this episode will provide valuable insights into the structure of music, musical transitions, and how modulation can enhance your musical expression.
Perfect for music students, musicians, music theorists, and guitarists alike, this episode will help you improve your understanding of music theory, boost your analytical skills, and inspire new approaches to composition. Tune in and take your music theory knowledge to the next level!
#musiccommentary #musichistory #musictheory #musicpodcast
Linear Music Theory Learning For Everyone!
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
UNKNOWN (00:00):
you
SPEAKER_01 (00:53):
Chill way to start our program today.
That was Gymnopédie No.
1 by French composer Eric Satie.
Welcome back to The HarmoniousBlacksmith, a podcast on music
(01:16):
theory exploration.
This is episode 15 in season 2,and I am your host, Kevin
Patrick Fleming.
Oh, there they are.
There they are.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Ah, thank you.
I appreciate all your fakeapplause.
(01:38):
Thank you so much.
Today, we have a very specialepisode about key changes and
modulation.
And as always, I will give youthe reminder that this is a
linear and comprehensivepodcast, meaning that step one
(01:59):
builds to step two and then tostep three and so on.
So if you are coming into mypodcast right now for the first
time, first of all, welcome.
We are very glad you're here,but you may want to go back to
the very beginning of season oneand episode one, listen to
everything and come on back.
(02:20):
back when you're ready.
Or if you're already a bitexperienced in theory, you may
be able to follow along justfine.
So again, welcome.
The last couple of episodes,we've been working on
improvisation, which really wasa combination of all the things
that we've been learningpreviously in season one and the
(02:41):
beginning of season two.
But I'm moving on to a newerconcept today about keys and
modulation, how they're relatedhow they can be used together,
what the differences betweenthem are, and what the
comparisons are in general.
Let's start by doing a littlereview about what a key is.
(03:05):
And if you want to, you canrefer back to episode 10 of my
podcast where I talk aboutcircle of fifths and keys if you
would like to go review in amore thorough manner.
But let's go ahead and redefineit.
So what is a key?
A key is a set of pitches thatcome from a scale pattern that
(03:31):
create the melodies, harmonies,triads, chords, and chord
progressions that all worktogether to create a musical
narrative.
So take the key of G major, forexample, and you know it's
whole, whole, half, whole,whole, whole, half by now sounds
like this.
And then your chords would be G,A minor, B minor, C major, D
(04:05):
major, E minor, F sharpdiminished, and then back to G.
And that is a key.
So when you have melodies andharmonies working together along
with those chords that are basedfrom the triads, as you remember
from the skipping method inseason one, put all that
(04:27):
together and you have a key.
So then what exactly is a keychange?
A key change is when you movefrom one set of pitches or to
another set of pitches afterthat.
So associate the word key withlocked in, right?
(04:52):
Because we know keys in life,they lock and unlock different
locks.
The wordplay is helpful forremembering the idea that when
you are in a key, the key locksyou into a key.
So when I said G major, it'd beG, A, B, C, D, E, F sharp, And
we are locked into that until wedo move to a key change.
(05:17):
So for an example, key changemight go to D as in dog, D
major.
And that would be D, E, F sharp,G, A, B, C sharp, D.
So now you have two sharpsinstead of previously having
one.
SPEAKER_00 (05:33):
But wait a second, Kevin.
Are you telling me that only onenote changing can be an entire
key change?
SPEAKER_01 (05:41):
Yes, that's actually exactly what I'm telling you.
Because when you go fromG-A-B-C-D-E-F-sharp-G to
D-E-F-sharp-G-A-B-C-sharp-D, youare actually only changing one
pitch.
But that's not the only thingthat's changing.
And we need to learn a new termin order to understand the next
(06:03):
thing, which is a tonal center.
A tonal center is a root or homebase pitch.
pitch or chord from whicheverything else revolves around,
meaning all the other pitchesand chords in the key.
I like to use the metaphor of asolar system, for example.
(06:26):
So take the sun.
The sun would represent a tonalcenter, and all the planets that
revolve around it represent allthe other pitches and chords
that work together to create aparticular So, for example, when
we're in G major, the pitch G isthe tonal center.
(06:49):
It is the home base.
It is the place that we arestarting and the place that we
are finishing.
So, the musical journey startsand ends on G.
It could be a pitch.
It could be a chord.
And if you remember fromprevious episodes, the idea of
musical tension, the idea that achord progression has a home
(07:11):
base is a key.
It starts there.
It elevates with musical tensionto go to other places, creates
this sort of roller coaster rideof a sound, and then eventually
makes its way back home whereyou get sort of a musical
tension and release kind offeel.
And you are back at home basewhere tension is released and
(07:32):
the pitch feels tranquil and atease.
Wow.
Okay, so that was definitely alot of stuff to digest at once.
But let me go ahead and give youa few audio examples.
All right, so I'm headed back tothe key of G, which sounds like
this.
(07:56):
And G would be the home base ortonal center in the key of G.
Now, just to skip ahead a littlebit, I'll give you a 1-4-5
progression.
And if you remember in G, that'sgoing to be G, C, and D, which
would sound like this.
(08:20):
And now you can hear thatmusical tension and release.
So starting at G...
Then we elevate to the IV chord,which gives us some tension,
rise in tension.
Then we get even more, and thistime I'm gonna go to a V7 chord,
by the way, to make the tensioneven greater, and your V7 sounds
like this.
(08:42):
And then back to home base wouldsound like this.
Ah, and then you hear thatrelease.
And again, that is a tonalcenter.
The center and pitch, the centerchord on which everything else
revolves, all the musicaltension builds and releases
based on that tonal center.
(09:03):
So just to do it in one otherkey as an example, I gave you D
as in dog, which would soundlike this.
UNKNOWN (09:11):
Okay.
SPEAKER_01 (09:15):
Now, do you remember what the I, IV, V, and D major
are?
They are D, G, and A, or A7,which gives the tension.
Ah, then it releases back to D.
So notice I was able to get thattension and release effect,
(09:38):
whether I was in the key of G orin the key of D.
So I did essentially just giveyou your first audio example of
a key change, but let me give itto you back to back with just
the chords.
I'm gonna start back in G again.
(10:01):
And now D.
Now, did your ear hear the tonalcenter change?
Did you hear that G was tranquilin the first one and then D was
tranquil in the second one?
So you should be able to hearthat the tonal center moves from
(10:25):
G to D.
And how is that reallyaccomplished?
It can only be accomplished withsurrounding chords and
surrounding musical tension thattherefore creates that tonal
center.
So now I'm going to demonstratea basic key change going from G
major to D major using reallyjust a generic tune.
(10:47):
And I apologize for my singingahead of time, but I am going to
use it for example's sake.
So key of G, I'm using 1, 4, and5.
1, 4, 5,
SPEAKER_02 (10:56):
1.
SPEAKER_01 (11:03):
So that's my generic tune.
Now, what if I just take thatsame tune and put it to a D
major chord progression?
It's the same exact tune.
It's just moved to a differentlevel.
So I could take that evenfarther and do one more.
(11:26):
Now I'm in the key of C.
Same thing.
Again, sorry for the singing.
Okay.
But the whole point of that isjust to show you I'm just taking
one pitch on each one of thosechords, singing a generic tune,
(11:46):
and then changing the key.
And so I went from G major to Dmajor to C major on the same
exact tune using 1, 4, and 5.
All of those are, in fact, a keychange.
And that brings up yet anothernew term, which is called...
transposition.
(12:07):
Transposition is the act oftaking a piece of music and
taking every bit of it andmoving it to another key.
So that's literally what I justdid from G to D to C.
I took the 1-4-5 progressions, Itook the same three notes that I
was singing, and I just movedthem to a higher or lower level
(12:31):
to match the new set of pitchesin the new key.
And that is in fact what we calltransposition.
All right, so we establishedwhat a key is.
We also established what a keychange is.
And now to get to the other mainterm of this episode, which is
(12:52):
called modulation.
So what is modulation?
So modulation is the shift ofthe musical tonal center.
It could either be permanent orit could Now that might seem
(13:17):
like kind of a vague andmysterious definition, but we're
definitely going to go throughsome audio examples.
So just to give you adifferential, when we do a key
change, you don't necessarilyneed subtle means or mechanics
to go from one key to the next.
Refer to the previous example Igave you where I went from G to
(13:37):
D to C.
I didn't use any technique orchord progression or melodic
sequence like you're going tohear here pretty soon for
modulation.
I didn't use any technique.
I just simply transported fromone key to the next, and that is
a key change.
Here is your first example of amodulation technique, and I'm
(14:01):
going to kind of talk youthrough it.
So I'm starting in G major.
One And it brings me back toone, right?
So one is my home base.
G is my home base.
But if I use one littletechnique of altering a chord,
which we're going to talk aboutafterward, I can use a
(14:23):
modulation technique and subtlychange keys to D.
So now listen.
One,
SPEAKER_02 (14:30):
four, five,
SPEAKER_01 (14:32):
one.
G, C, now an A chord.
(14:52):
So I made it all the way to thekey of D major now.
Did you hear me change from thekey of G major to D major?
You probably didn't.
And that's because it is asubtle technique.
It is something composers andsongwriters use to have a nice
blended and subtle change of thetonal center.
(15:18):
So now let me explain thispowerful technique that is used
in music.
So basically, we establish the1, 4, 5, and G as G, C, and D,
right?
But when I did another passaround, I went from G to C.
Then I played this A majorchord.
(15:39):
Now, I put an exclamation pointthere in my mind.
Why?
Number one, A major does notexist in the key of G.
So this chord is not in the keyI'm playing in.
So think about the key of Gmajor for a second.
Use your own knowledge thatyou've learned so far and think,
chord has the root of A in thekey of G major.
(16:01):
What kind of chord is it?
Did you figure it out?
It would actually be an A minor.
Because remember, in a majorkey, the two chord is minor.
So it would be an A minor, whichis spelled A, C, and E.
Okay.
So all I did to create thismodulation mechanic that I'm
(16:25):
using subtly is I sharped the Cnatural in the A minor.
I sharped it a half step to a Csharp.
And we literally go from an Aminor chord to an A major chord.
with just one half step on onepitch.
(16:48):
The other two pitches stayed thesame.
So again, the A minor as a twochord in G would be A, C, and E.
A,
SPEAKER_02 (16:56):
C,
SPEAKER_01 (16:57):
E.
An A major chord would be A, Csharp in E.
So we went from A, C, E to A, Csharp, E.
A, C, E.
So you can tell they'redifferent, but subtle, right?
One's minor, one's major.
We know those sound vastlydifferent.
But when you really get down toit, they're only one pitch
(17:21):
different, and that pitch isonly altered by a half step.
This gives us the mechanic tocreate that subtlety that I'm
describing with modulation.
So again, I'm going to back upto my example.
G major, 1, 4, 5, 1.
And then the second pass One,four.
(17:43):
But instead of going to a minortwo chord, I go to a major two
chord, which then goes to a Dchord, which was the five and G.
But now the A major is startingto bend the key towards D major.
Why?
Because we added a C sharp now.
(18:05):
How many sharps does the key ofG major have?
It has one, and it's an F.
D major has two sharps, and theyare F and C.
So I'm just altering the Cnatural that was in the key of
G.
Now it's a C sharp, and I'musing that pitch to subtly move
our ear to the new tonal centerof D.
(18:29):
So you can tell with modulation,it is a little more subtle, a
little more blended, not asobvious, and basically a little
more clever, in my opinion, onhow you go from one key to
another and help your listenerre-establish a new tonal center
(18:50):
in their ear and be able to hearthat.
So modulation is allowingcomposers to manipulate how
their listeners hear the musicthat comes in the previous key
and in the following key.
And music creators are not justpicking random keys to connect
together using modulation.
(19:12):
Generally speaking, they'regoing to use keys that connect
easily, and that is one of ournew terms today, and it's called
closely related keys.
A closely related key is a keythat has either just one, maybe
(19:32):
two pitches different from theother key.
So the two keys really share themajority of pitches as the same,
minus one or two, which givesyou a chance to subtly move from
one to the other with smoothnessand ease.
So G major has one sharp, andit's F, and D major has two
(19:54):
sharps, and they are F and C,and therefore those two keys are
closely related.
I urge you to pull up an imageof the circle of fifths right
now, or to even go back toepisode 10 of the circle of
fifths and study it, becauseclosely related keys are going
(20:15):
to be right next to each otheron the circle of fifths.
So the circle of fifths willcontinue to be a powerful tool,
but it is absolutely a powerfultool when we're talking about
key changes, when we're talkingabout modulation, when we're
talking about closely relatedkeys and how we can change from
one key to the other usingmodulation techniques.
(20:37):
So now here's a question.
What is another closely relatedkey to G major on the circle of
fifths?
When we went to the right, wegot D major.
What if you just go one key tothe left?
Yep, and it's C major.
And remember, C major has zerosharps and flats.
(20:57):
And again, G major has one.
So they share every single pitchexcept for the F.
C major has F natural, and Gmajor has F sharp.
But the other six pitches areexactly the same, and therefore
they are, in fact, closelyrelated keys.
There are different types ofmodulation techniques, and I'm
(21:20):
going to get into those on thenext episode, actually, but now
that you understand basicallywhat modulation is, I want to
reiterate my definition of keychanging, okay, now that you
understand modulation.
Remember that a key change is ashift of tonal center and a
(21:41):
shift to a new set of pitches,but it doesn't necessarily mean
use a modulation technique.
Sometimes it's just atransposition, as we discussed
earlier.
And I will also let you knowthat modulation doesn't always
mean we're changing keys.
Sometimes modulation techniquesare used just to go to somewhere
(22:03):
temporarily to kind of bend theear or bend the key a little bit
and then come back to the keyyou were already in.
So it doesn't really actuallychange keys.
So So, for example, the wildlypopular song Freebird by Leonard
Skinner is a great example ofsome modulation that doesn't
(22:24):
turn into a key change.
I will show you.
Freebird is generally in the keyof G major, and it starts on a I
chord.
Then it goes to a V chord, whichis D.
Then it goes to a VI chord,which is E minor.
Plays that twice.
But then instead of going to anexpected chord in the key of G,
it actually goes to an F major.
(22:46):
your next.
which is an unexpected chordbecause, as we know, the key of
G has an F sharp in it, not an Fnatural.
So now we're naturaling out theF in G, which is like we're all
of a sudden in C major with nosharps and no flats.
And consequently, the song doesgo from that F chord to a C
(23:08):
chord, but only temporarilybecause it goes right back to a
D major chord, which has an Fsharp in it again, and it turns
us right back around to G.
So again, we went G, which is 1,D is 5, E minor is 6, twice.
(23:32):
Then we get an F major chordthat doesn't belong, a bit of a
modulation, and then we get a Cchord after that.
which is like we're modulatingto C, but only temporarily.
We're not key changing here.
We're only modulating, and thenit goes right back to D, which
has the F sharp in it again fromprevious, and brings us back to
(23:57):
G.
I know that's a lot, but go backand listen to it a few times if
you need to.
And to give you one last exampleto drive the differences and
similarities of modulation andkey changing home would be a
direct key change from a minorkey to its parallel major.
(24:18):
Do y'all remember parallel keysfrom previous episodes?
Remember that a parallel keymeans it has the same root note,
but one's major and the other'sminor.
So let me Let me give you anexample.
I could be in the key of Aminor.
And the parallel major would beA major.
(24:39):
They have the same exact rootnote, it's just that one is a
minor key with a certain set ofchords, and the other is a major
key with a certain set ofchords.
And they are completelydifferent keys.
So a I-IV-V in A minor would beA minor, D minor, E minor, And
back to A minor.
So you might hear a song.
(25:06):
But what if at some point, allof a sudden, that A minor turned
into A major.
Then I could do a one, four,five in A major.
(25:29):
back to one in A major, and thenI could move eventually right
back to A minor again.
So in this case, there is nomodulation technique, but we are
in fact making a key change.
We are changing from A minor toA major and back to A minor
(25:51):
again, but we didn't use anymodulation techniques.
We simply used the commonalitythat they both share the same
exact tonal center, the sameexact root note.
So now we have some basicexamples of key changes and some
basic examples of modulationsand how the two are related and
(26:14):
how they're sometimes usedtogether and how also sometimes
they are completely separate.
So now it's time for breakdown.
Today we talked all about keychanges and modulation.
(26:41):
We learned that a key change isgoing from a certain set of
pitches based on a scale patternto another set of pitches, that
it re-establishes differentmelodies, harmonies, triads,
chords, and chord progressions.
We learned that modulation is atechnique that is used in a
(27:02):
subtle and clever way tosometimes create a key change
and other times to create atemporary bend in the key, just
to make things colorful andinteresting.
I reminded you what parallelkeys were, keys that have the
same tonic note, but one ismajor, the other is minor.
(27:25):
We learned what closely relatedkeys are and how that relates to
the circle of fifths.
Keys that have an overwhelmingamount of the same pitches but
might have one or two that aredifferent.
These are closely related keysand they are close to each other
on the circle of fifths.
(27:49):
We also learned whattransposition is, the idea of
taking a piece of music and allits elements and just moving it
to a different range or adifferent key, higher or lower.
Coming up on episode 16, we willgo through more examples of key
(28:11):
changes in modulation.
I will get more specific withthose mechanics and techniques.
And that will be when wecontinue this music theory
exploration with all of you.
Have a wonderful music-filledweek.
(28:32):
Until next time.
you
SPEAKER_01 (00:53):
Chill way to start our program today.
That was Gymnopédie No.
1 by French composer Eric Satie.
Welcome back to The HarmoniousBlacksmith, a podcast on music
(01:16):
theory exploration.
This is episode 15 in season 2,and I am your host, Kevin
Patrick Fleming.
Oh, there they are.
There they are.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Ah, thank you.
I appreciate all your fakeapplause.
(01:38):
Thank you so much.
Today, we have a very specialepisode about key changes and
modulation.
And as always, I will give youthe reminder that this is a
linear and comprehensivepodcast, meaning that step one
(01:59):
builds to step two and then tostep three and so on.
So if you are coming into mypodcast right now for the first
time, first of all, welcome.
We are very glad you're here,but you may want to go back to
the very beginning of season oneand episode one, listen to
everything and come on back.
(02:20):
back when you're ready.
Or if you're already a bitexperienced in theory, you may
be able to follow along justfine.
So again, welcome.
The last couple of episodes,we've been working on
improvisation, which really wasa combination of all the things
that we've been learningpreviously in season one and the
(02:41):
beginning of season two.
But I'm moving on to a newerconcept today about keys and
modulation, how they're relatedhow they can be used together,
what the differences betweenthem are, and what the
comparisons are in general.
Let's start by doing a littlereview about what a key is.
(03:05):
And if you want to, you canrefer back to episode 10 of my
podcast where I talk aboutcircle of fifths and keys if you
would like to go review in amore thorough manner.
But let's go ahead and redefineit.
So what is a key?
A key is a set of pitches thatcome from a scale pattern that
(03:31):
create the melodies, harmonies,triads, chords, and chord
progressions that all worktogether to create a musical
narrative.
So take the key of G major, forexample, and you know it's
whole, whole, half, whole,whole, whole, half by now sounds
like this.
And then your chords would be G,A minor, B minor, C major, D
(04:05):
major, E minor, F sharpdiminished, and then back to G.
And that is a key.
So when you have melodies andharmonies working together along
with those chords that are basedfrom the triads, as you remember
from the skipping method inseason one, put all that
(04:27):
together and you have a key.
So then what exactly is a keychange?
A key change is when you movefrom one set of pitches or to
another set of pitches afterthat.
So associate the word key withlocked in, right?
(04:52):
Because we know keys in life,they lock and unlock different
locks.
The wordplay is helpful forremembering the idea that when
you are in a key, the key locksyou into a key.
So when I said G major, it'd beG, A, B, C, D, E, F sharp, And
we are locked into that until wedo move to a key change.
(05:17):
So for an example, key changemight go to D as in dog, D
major.
And that would be D, E, F sharp,G, A, B, C sharp, D.
So now you have two sharpsinstead of previously having
one.
SPEAKER_00 (05:33):
But wait a second, Kevin.
Are you telling me that only onenote changing can be an entire
key change?
SPEAKER_01 (05:41):
Yes, that's actually exactly what I'm telling you.
Because when you go fromG-A-B-C-D-E-F-sharp-G to
D-E-F-sharp-G-A-B-C-sharp-D, youare actually only changing one
pitch.
But that's not the only thingthat's changing.
And we need to learn a new termin order to understand the next
(06:03):
thing, which is a tonal center.
A tonal center is a root or homebase pitch.
pitch or chord from whicheverything else revolves around,
meaning all the other pitchesand chords in the key.
I like to use the metaphor of asolar system, for example.
(06:26):
So take the sun.
The sun would represent a tonalcenter, and all the planets that
revolve around it represent allthe other pitches and chords
that work together to create aparticular So, for example, when
we're in G major, the pitch G isthe tonal center.
(06:49):
It is the home base.
It is the place that we arestarting and the place that we
are finishing.
So, the musical journey startsand ends on G.
It could be a pitch.
It could be a chord.
And if you remember fromprevious episodes, the idea of
musical tension, the idea that achord progression has a home
(07:11):
base is a key.
It starts there.
It elevates with musical tensionto go to other places, creates
this sort of roller coaster rideof a sound, and then eventually
makes its way back home whereyou get sort of a musical
tension and release kind offeel.
And you are back at home basewhere tension is released and
(07:32):
the pitch feels tranquil and atease.
Wow.
Okay, so that was definitely alot of stuff to digest at once.
But let me go ahead and give youa few audio examples.
All right, so I'm headed back tothe key of G, which sounds like
this.
(07:56):
And G would be the home base ortonal center in the key of G.
Now, just to skip ahead a littlebit, I'll give you a 1-4-5
progression.
And if you remember in G, that'sgoing to be G, C, and D, which
would sound like this.
(08:20):
And now you can hear thatmusical tension and release.
So starting at G...
Then we elevate to the IV chord,which gives us some tension,
rise in tension.
Then we get even more, and thistime I'm gonna go to a V7 chord,
by the way, to make the tensioneven greater, and your V7 sounds
like this.
(08:42):
And then back to home base wouldsound like this.
Ah, and then you hear thatrelease.
And again, that is a tonalcenter.
The center and pitch, the centerchord on which everything else
revolves, all the musicaltension builds and releases
based on that tonal center.
(09:03):
So just to do it in one otherkey as an example, I gave you D
as in dog, which would soundlike this.
UNKNOWN (09:11):
Okay.
SPEAKER_01 (09:15):
Now, do you remember what the I, IV, V, and D major
are?
They are D, G, and A, or A7,which gives the tension.
Ah, then it releases back to D.
So notice I was able to get thattension and release effect,
(09:38):
whether I was in the key of G orin the key of D.
So I did essentially just giveyou your first audio example of
a key change, but let me give itto you back to back with just
the chords.
I'm gonna start back in G again.
(10:01):
And now D.
Now, did your ear hear the tonalcenter change?
Did you hear that G was tranquilin the first one and then D was
tranquil in the second one?
So you should be able to hearthat the tonal center moves from
(10:25):
G to D.
And how is that reallyaccomplished?
It can only be accomplished withsurrounding chords and
surrounding musical tension thattherefore creates that tonal
center.
So now I'm going to demonstratea basic key change going from G
major to D major using reallyjust a generic tune.
(10:47):
And I apologize for my singingahead of time, but I am going to
use it for example's sake.
So key of G, I'm using 1, 4, and5.
1, 4, 5,
SPEAKER_02 (10:56):
1.
SPEAKER_01 (11:03):
So that's my generic tune.
Now, what if I just take thatsame tune and put it to a D
major chord progression?
It's the same exact tune.
It's just moved to a differentlevel.
So I could take that evenfarther and do one more.
(11:26):
Now I'm in the key of C.
Same thing.
Again, sorry for the singing.
Okay.
But the whole point of that isjust to show you I'm just taking
one pitch on each one of thosechords, singing a generic tune,
(11:46):
and then changing the key.
And so I went from G major to Dmajor to C major on the same
exact tune using 1, 4, and 5.
All of those are, in fact, a keychange.
And that brings up yet anothernew term, which is called...
transposition.
(12:07):
Transposition is the act oftaking a piece of music and
taking every bit of it andmoving it to another key.
So that's literally what I justdid from G to D to C.
I took the 1-4-5 progressions, Itook the same three notes that I
was singing, and I just movedthem to a higher or lower level
(12:31):
to match the new set of pitchesin the new key.
And that is in fact what we calltransposition.
All right, so we establishedwhat a key is.
We also established what a keychange is.
And now to get to the other mainterm of this episode, which is
(12:52):
called modulation.
So what is modulation?
So modulation is the shift ofthe musical tonal center.
It could either be permanent orit could Now that might seem
(13:17):
like kind of a vague andmysterious definition, but we're
definitely going to go throughsome audio examples.
So just to give you adifferential, when we do a key
change, you don't necessarilyneed subtle means or mechanics
to go from one key to the next.
Refer to the previous example Igave you where I went from G to
(13:37):
D to C.
I didn't use any technique orchord progression or melodic
sequence like you're going tohear here pretty soon for
modulation.
I didn't use any technique.
I just simply transported fromone key to the next, and that is
a key change.
Here is your first example of amodulation technique, and I'm
(14:01):
going to kind of talk youthrough it.
So I'm starting in G major.
One And it brings me back toone, right?
So one is my home base.
G is my home base.
But if I use one littletechnique of altering a chord,
which we're going to talk aboutafterward, I can use a
(14:23):
modulation technique and subtlychange keys to D.
So now listen.
One,
SPEAKER_02 (14:30):
four, five,
SPEAKER_01 (14:32):
one.
G, C, now an A chord.
(14:52):
So I made it all the way to thekey of D major now.
Did you hear me change from thekey of G major to D major?
You probably didn't.
And that's because it is asubtle technique.
It is something composers andsongwriters use to have a nice
blended and subtle change of thetonal center.
(15:18):
So now let me explain thispowerful technique that is used
in music.
So basically, we establish the1, 4, 5, and G as G, C, and D,
right?
But when I did another passaround, I went from G to C.
Then I played this A majorchord.
(15:39):
Now, I put an exclamation pointthere in my mind.
Why?
Number one, A major does notexist in the key of G.
So this chord is not in the keyI'm playing in.
So think about the key of Gmajor for a second.
Use your own knowledge thatyou've learned so far and think,
chord has the root of A in thekey of G major.
(16:01):
What kind of chord is it?
Did you figure it out?
It would actually be an A minor.
Because remember, in a majorkey, the two chord is minor.
So it would be an A minor, whichis spelled A, C, and E.
Okay.
So all I did to create thismodulation mechanic that I'm
(16:25):
using subtly is I sharped the Cnatural in the A minor.
I sharped it a half step to a Csharp.
And we literally go from an Aminor chord to an A major chord.
with just one half step on onepitch.
(16:48):
The other two pitches stayed thesame.
So again, the A minor as a twochord in G would be A, C, and E.
A,
SPEAKER_02 (16:56):
C,
SPEAKER_01 (16:57):
E.
An A major chord would be A, Csharp in E.
So we went from A, C, E to A, Csharp, E.
A, C, E.
So you can tell they'redifferent, but subtle, right?
One's minor, one's major.
We know those sound vastlydifferent.
But when you really get down toit, they're only one pitch
(17:21):
different, and that pitch isonly altered by a half step.
This gives us the mechanic tocreate that subtlety that I'm
describing with modulation.
So again, I'm going to back upto my example.
G major, 1, 4, 5, 1.
And then the second pass One,four.
(17:43):
But instead of going to a minortwo chord, I go to a major two
chord, which then goes to a Dchord, which was the five and G.
But now the A major is startingto bend the key towards D major.
Why?
Because we added a C sharp now.
(18:05):
How many sharps does the key ofG major have?
It has one, and it's an F.
D major has two sharps, and theyare F and C.
So I'm just altering the Cnatural that was in the key of
G.
Now it's a C sharp, and I'musing that pitch to subtly move
our ear to the new tonal centerof D.
(18:29):
So you can tell with modulation,it is a little more subtle, a
little more blended, not asobvious, and basically a little
more clever, in my opinion, onhow you go from one key to
another and help your listenerre-establish a new tonal center
(18:50):
in their ear and be able to hearthat.
So modulation is allowingcomposers to manipulate how
their listeners hear the musicthat comes in the previous key
and in the following key.
And music creators are not justpicking random keys to connect
together using modulation.
(19:12):
Generally speaking, they'regoing to use keys that connect
easily, and that is one of ournew terms today, and it's called
closely related keys.
A closely related key is a keythat has either just one, maybe
(19:32):
two pitches different from theother key.
So the two keys really share themajority of pitches as the same,
minus one or two, which givesyou a chance to subtly move from
one to the other with smoothnessand ease.
So G major has one sharp, andit's F, and D major has two
(19:54):
sharps, and they are F and C,and therefore those two keys are
closely related.
I urge you to pull up an imageof the circle of fifths right
now, or to even go back toepisode 10 of the circle of
fifths and study it, becauseclosely related keys are going
(20:15):
to be right next to each otheron the circle of fifths.
So the circle of fifths willcontinue to be a powerful tool,
but it is absolutely a powerfultool when we're talking about
key changes, when we're talkingabout modulation, when we're
talking about closely relatedkeys and how we can change from
one key to the other usingmodulation techniques.
(20:37):
So now here's a question.
What is another closely relatedkey to G major on the circle of
fifths?
When we went to the right, wegot D major.
What if you just go one key tothe left?
Yep, and it's C major.
And remember, C major has zerosharps and flats.
(20:57):
And again, G major has one.
So they share every single pitchexcept for the F.
C major has F natural, and Gmajor has F sharp.
But the other six pitches areexactly the same, and therefore
they are, in fact, closelyrelated keys.
There are different types ofmodulation techniques, and I'm
(21:20):
going to get into those on thenext episode, actually, but now
that you understand basicallywhat modulation is, I want to
reiterate my definition of keychanging, okay, now that you
understand modulation.
Remember that a key change is ashift of tonal center and a
(21:41):
shift to a new set of pitches,but it doesn't necessarily mean
use a modulation technique.
Sometimes it's just atransposition, as we discussed
earlier.
And I will also let you knowthat modulation doesn't always
mean we're changing keys.
Sometimes modulation techniquesare used just to go to somewhere
(22:03):
temporarily to kind of bend theear or bend the key a little bit
and then come back to the keyyou were already in.
So it doesn't really actuallychange keys.
So So, for example, the wildlypopular song Freebird by Leonard
Skinner is a great example ofsome modulation that doesn't
(22:24):
turn into a key change.
I will show you.
Freebird is generally in the keyof G major, and it starts on a I
chord.
Then it goes to a V chord, whichis D.
Then it goes to a VI chord,which is E minor.
Plays that twice.
But then instead of going to anexpected chord in the key of G,
it actually goes to an F major.
(22:46):
your next.
which is an unexpected chordbecause, as we know, the key of
G has an F sharp in it, not an Fnatural.
So now we're naturaling out theF in G, which is like we're all
of a sudden in C major with nosharps and no flats.
And consequently, the song doesgo from that F chord to a C
(23:08):
chord, but only temporarilybecause it goes right back to a
D major chord, which has an Fsharp in it again, and it turns
us right back around to G.
So again, we went G, which is 1,D is 5, E minor is 6, twice.
(23:32):
Then we get an F major chordthat doesn't belong, a bit of a
modulation, and then we get a Cchord after that.
which is like we're modulatingto C, but only temporarily.
We're not key changing here.
We're only modulating, and thenit goes right back to D, which
has the F sharp in it again fromprevious, and brings us back to
(23:57):
G.
I know that's a lot, but go backand listen to it a few times if
you need to.
And to give you one last exampleto drive the differences and
similarities of modulation andkey changing home would be a
direct key change from a minorkey to its parallel major.
(24:18):
Do y'all remember parallel keysfrom previous episodes?
Remember that a parallel keymeans it has the same root note,
but one's major and the other'sminor.
So let me Let me give you anexample.
I could be in the key of Aminor.
And the parallel major would beA major.
(24:39):
They have the same exact rootnote, it's just that one is a
minor key with a certain set ofchords, and the other is a major
key with a certain set ofchords.
And they are completelydifferent keys.
So a I-IV-V in A minor would beA minor, D minor, E minor, And
back to A minor.
So you might hear a song.
(25:06):
But what if at some point, allof a sudden, that A minor turned
into A major.
Then I could do a one, four,five in A major.
(25:29):
back to one in A major, and thenI could move eventually right
back to A minor again.
So in this case, there is nomodulation technique, but we are
in fact making a key change.
We are changing from A minor toA major and back to A minor
(25:51):
again, but we didn't use anymodulation techniques.
We simply used the commonalitythat they both share the same
exact tonal center, the sameexact root note.
So now we have some basicexamples of key changes and some
basic examples of modulationsand how the two are related and
(26:14):
how they're sometimes usedtogether and how also sometimes
they are completely separate.
So now it's time for breakdown.
Today we talked all about keychanges and modulation.
(26:41):
We learned that a key change isgoing from a certain set of
pitches based on a scale patternto another set of pitches, that
it re-establishes differentmelodies, harmonies, triads,
chords, and chord progressions.
We learned that modulation is atechnique that is used in a
(27:02):
subtle and clever way tosometimes create a key change
and other times to create atemporary bend in the key, just
to make things colorful andinteresting.
I reminded you what parallelkeys were, keys that have the
same tonic note, but one ismajor, the other is minor.
(27:25):
We learned what closely relatedkeys are and how that relates to
the circle of fifths.
Keys that have an overwhelmingamount of the same pitches but
might have one or two that aredifferent.
These are closely related keysand they are close to each other
on the circle of fifths.
(27:49):
We also learned whattransposition is, the idea of
taking a piece of music and allits elements and just moving it
to a different range or adifferent key, higher or lower.
Coming up on episode 16, we willgo through more examples of key
(28:11):
changes in modulation.
I will get more specific withthose mechanics and techniques.
And that will be when wecontinue this music theory
exploration with all of you.
Have a wonderful music-filledweek.
(28:32):
Until next time.
Popular Podcasts
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.