Welcome to this video about musical modulation.

Modulation is a very important part of music composition, since it allows the music to escape from a single key, and hence a restricted number of chords, and introduces the possibility of playing every possible chord and chord relationship.

Without modulation we are pretty much stuck with the chords built on a single 7 note scale, but with modulation, we can use the chords found inside all the 24 major and minor Keys.

The main challenge in modulating from one key to another key is linking the keys in a way that doesn't sound harsh or abrupt. This can be achieved in various ways. The simplest way is to modulate to a key that has one or more common chords with the original key. A common chord can be used as a pivot chord between the two keys. This close relationship is found between keys having the smallest change in key signature.

If we take C as our starting key, we can see from the Key Wheel that the most closely related keys are Am, G major, Em, F major and Dm. Let's look at these Key relationships more closely.

If we compare all the chords found in the keys of C major and A minor, we can find 4 common chords:

A minor
B diminished
D minor, and
F major

If we compare all the chords found in the keys of C major and G major, we can find 4 common chords.

If we compare the chords found in the keys of C major and E minor, we find 3 common chords.

If we compare the chords found in the keys of C major and F major, we find 3 common chords.

If we compare the chords found in the keys of C major and D minor, we find 1 common chord.

We can also find some common chords between six slightly more distant Keys. They are:

D major, where we find 2 common chords. The common chords are listed in the right hand column.

B minor, where we find 2 common chords.

Bb major, where we find 2 common chords.

C minor, where we find 2 common chords.

F minor where we find 1 common chord.

Bb minor where we find 1 common chord.

All the remaining Keys have no common chords with the key of C major, and so modulation is more of a challenge. In this video, I'll show you how to modulate to close keys, using common chords. In another video, I'll show you how to modulate to distant keys with no common chords.

Here are three things to remember when modulating using a common, or pivot, chord.

1) The Tonic chord of the new Key must fall on a strong beat, preferably the first beat of a new bar.

2) The Tonic chord should be preceded by a dominant chord, since this creates a strong cadential progression and therefore reinforces the sound of the new key.

3) The pivot chord preceding the V chord should preferably be a chord that leads well to V, like a ii or IV chord.

So, for example, in modulating from C major to G major, the pivot chord should be either Am or C major.

Let's look at some practical examples of how to modulate from C major to all the 5 closely related keys we have described above.

Let's start with C major modulating to A minor.

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Here's our starting chord of C major. Here's our destination chord of A minor. We ensure that this chord is on a strong beat, in this case at the beginning of a new bar. Here's the dominant of our target key of Am. Here's the PIVOT chord, B diminished, which is common to both the key of C major and A minor. And here's an intermediate chord that fills the space between the C major and B diminished chords. Let's hear the entire modulation.

Notice how the modulation to A minor is confirmed with an additional V to I progression, called an authentic cadence. This serves to strengthen the sense that a modulation has taken place.

Now let's look at a progression that modulates from the key of C major to the key of G major.

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We start with a C major chord, and our destination is a G major chord. Here is the dominant chord of G major, in second inversion so as to create good voice leading in the bass. Here is the vi chord in the key of C, which is also a ii chord in the key of G. Here is an intermediate chord that we insert in order to have the G major chord land on a strong beat. Let's hear the entire modulation.

Now let's look at C major modulating to E minor. We can see that the best chord for preceding the dominant of E minor is the iv minor chord. This corresponds to a vi chord in C major.
So, here is our progression:

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A C major chord moves to a V chord in 1st inversion which moves to the pivot chord, which is both a vi chord in C major and a iv chord in E minor. We then move to the dominant of Em which resolves to the Tonic. Listen to the entire progression.

Next, I'll show you how to modulate from C major to F major.

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As you can see, none of the common chords lead strongly to a dominant of F, since the ii and IV chords of F major are not common chords. Look at this example which shows C major modulating to F major

In this case, an effective way to modulate is to change the I chord into a dominant, and resolve directly to F major. Since this is quite abrupt, it's particularly important to confirm that we are in the new key by inserting an authentic cadence after the first F major chord is heard, thus reinforcing the new key. Listen to the full modulation.

Finally, let's look at how C major modulates to Dm. This is an interesting case because, because even though these are two closely related keys, there is only one common chord, and this is neither the ii or IV chord of the new key. There are two ways to modulate.

The first is to move to the common chord, Dm, and then confirm it with a dominant chord in the new key. This would look and sound like this:

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The second way is to move to the chord which is most similar to the dominant of Dm, that is Am, and then perform a chromatic alteration to transform Am into A7, which then resolves to Dm.

This modulation sounds like this:

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Both methods are valid, and require additional cadences in Dm to confirm and consolidate the key of Dm in the listener's ear.

This concludes the explanation of how to modulate to 5 closely related keys. Another video will describe other modulation techniques. All the above examples can be downloaded from www.harmonybuiler.com/samples.

Thank you for watching.