From the course: The Songwriter's Toolkit: Learning from the Masters

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Use modulation in a duet

Use modulation in a duet - Sibelius Tutorial

From the course: The Songwriter's Toolkit: Learning from the Masters

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Use modulation in a duet

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- [Instructor] Just as we can use song form to create new and exciting moments for the listener, the harmonic framework of a song can be an equally powerful way to create unexpected drama. In my course The Songwriter's Toolkit: New Perspectives, I examine a variety of ways we can utilize the chords and key of a song to bring additional excitement. I also speak in detail about modulation and some of the common ways it's used in pop songs throughout chapter three of that course. One especially select use of modulation is to adjust the key of a song to accommodate the entrance of a male or female singer in a duet. Some great examples of this technique in action are Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton's Islands in the Stream, Barbra Streisand and Barry Gibb's Guilty, Olivia Newton-John and Cliff Richard's Suddenly and Celine Dion and Peabo Bryson's version of Beauty and the Beast. The functional reason for this modulation is the ranges of the male and female voice. When shifting a song from a…

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