Modulation

Hi, I haven't been here in a long time. I was composing a short orchestral piece recently and I realized I really don't know anything about modulation. I have taken theory classes and understand the principles (pivot chord, etc.) but I don't know keys to go to. For example, in a piano piece, I wanted to link the themes and coda with a transitional passage with modulation. The piece was in Ab Major. I wanted to go to f minor and develop the motif in the different keys, but I really didn't know what keys to go to. I thought about Ab-Db-Bbm-C7 to fm-Db-Eb-Ab. But I don't know.

Also, in my orchestra piece, the key was Bb minor. I have a fast first theme in Bb minor, a slow theme in major, a fiery transition in minor, and then a repetition of the first theme in Bb minor again. I want to put some parts in other keys, but I really don't know which ones. I thought about going from Bbm the relative major to either Eb minor or f minor and then back to Bbm. Do you have any suggestions about this, and about what keys are good to modulate to in general or for certain purposes.Thanks.

Hi, I haven't been here in a long time. I was composing a short orchestral piece recently and I realized I really don't know anything about modulation. I have taken theory classes and understand the principles (pivot chord, etc.) but I don't know keys to go to. For example, in a piano piece, I wanted to link the themes and coda with a transitional passage with modulation. The piece was in Ab Major. I wanted to go to f minor and develop the motif in the different keys, but I really didn't know what keys to go to. I thought about Ab-Db-Bbm-C7 to fm-Db-Eb-Ab. But I don't know.

Also, in my orchestra piece, the key was Bb minor. I have a fast first theme in Bb minor, a slow theme in major, a fiery transition in minor, and then a repetition of the first theme in Bb minor again. I want to put some parts in other keys, but I really don't know which ones. I thought about going from Bbm the relative major to either Eb minor or f minor and then back to Bbm. Do you have any suggestions about this, and about what keys are good to modulate to in general or for certain purposes.Thanks.

The simplest modulations are to 'related keys'. These are ones that have similar key signatures to the inital key. So C major's related keys are G major (1 sharp), F major (1 flat) and A minor (relative minor of C major). You modulate by introducing the new accidental. Other related keys are E minor and D minor (relative minors of G and F). I don't know what style your piece is in, but in the Classical idiom, these are generally the only keys used in a piece for any length of time. In the Romantic era, you get crazier modulations to distant keys.

The key is most easily confirmed by the alternation of chord I and V (the tonic and dominant chords). This is because the intervals of the major scale contain only two semitones: T T S T T T S (T=tone, S=semitone), so in C major, the B of the dominant chord, going to C of the tonic chord, is very instructive as to the key you are in. So when you modulate to G major, the new F# creates a semitone between F# and G, which must be highlighted to confirm the new key.

Ab and f minor have the same key signatures (they are relative keys), so the transition will generally require the addition of E natural (the sharpened 7th of f minor), and a shift in emphasis from Ab and Eb major chords, to f minor and C major chords.

Don't bother with modulation. Just play in both keys at the same time.

I've found that the best way is to set up a "map" of modulation and go from there. Take your initial key and map out what the relative minor or major keys are, then parallel, and finally the dominant and sub-dominant keys. Remember that once you move into a new key that all of these options are then available AGAIN for the new key. And always map out what "chords" are common chords in each key so that you can "pivot" on those chords. And when in doubt, start by trying your theme in it's parallel major or minor to make a bimodal theme and see how it sounds. Anyways, having a "map" in front of you always helps to gather ideas and try new things. I generally just start by writing the actual key at the top of a sheet of paper and connect "branches" to other common keys and then keep branching off of those. Hope some of these ideas help you, I know they have been of great help to me.

Don't bother with modulation. Just play in both keys at the same time.

Hah!

Yes sir!