From the course: Music Theory for Songwriters: Harmony
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Modulation
- Modulation is perhaps the most powerful tool in harmony. It is, by definition, the act of changing from one key, or tonal center, to another. It let's us take the listener in and out of key centers and play with their sense of the tonic. Modulation let's the ear contrast and compare all the harmonic possiblities within the temperate scale. It truly is the great innovation of western music. One of the strongest ways to modulate, is through the resolution of the cadence. By utilizing the expectation created by the condential motion of the dominant to the tonic, the five to one, we can shift the listener's sense of the tonic. The most common form of modulation, and what people typically refer to as a modulation, is when an entire section of a song is repeated in a new key, usually a half step up. This really can be done at any point in a song. Let me demonstrate this type of modulation with a I-vi-IV-V progression, in C major. I'll play it through a couple of times, to establish the…
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