Modulation (music) facts for kids
Modulation, in music, means that the music changes key. A piece of music might, for example, be “in the key of C major” (meaning that it uses the notes of a C major scale, and the C sounds like the “home key” or “tonic” as it is called in music theory). Then it could modulate to G major so that the G now feels like the home key and the notes of a G major scale are used (the Fs will be F sharps).
Modulations like the one above are very common, because G is closely related to C (it is the 5th note in a C major scale: the “dominant”). A modulation to the subdominant (4th note of the scale) is also common (e.g. from C major to Fmajor). Music often modulates to the relative minor (e.g. C major to A minor).
A modulation that goes to a key whose tonic is not part of the original key is called a “chromatic modulation”. Modulating from C major to A flat major would be a chromatic modulation because A flat is not a note in the C major scale.
Most pieces of music will modulate, especially if they are long pieces. It gives the music variety and helps to give it shape: the farther away from the tonic it goes the more tension there is. When the music eventually returns to the original key it feels like a homecoming.
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Images for kids
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Example of modulation from the tonic to the dominant.
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Common-chord modulation in the opening of Chopin's Prelude in C minor, Op. 28, No. 20.
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Common-chord modulation in Tchaikovsky's Album pour enfants (1887), Op. 39, No. 10, Mazurka
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Common-chord modulation in the opening of Mozart's, Sonata in D Major, K. 284, III
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Modulation from D major to D♭ major in Schubert's Op. 9, No. 14, D. 365, mm. 17–24, using the German sixth, in the new key, that is enharmonic to the dominant seventh in the old key.
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Modulation from A minor to E♭ minor in Schubert's Op.29, D. 804, I, mm.144-49, using viio7: G♯o7 ≡ Do7 (≡ Bo7 ≡ Fo7)
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Modulation between relative keys, C minor and E♭ major, using a common tone, G, in Schubert's Op. 163 (D. 956).
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Common-tone modulation between chromatic mediants in Mozart's K.475
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Chromatic modulation in Bach's Du grosser Schmerzensmann, BWV 300, mm. 5–6 ( with half cadence, with PAC) transitions from F major to D minor through the inflection of C♮ to C♯ between the second and third chords. Note that there is no common chord.
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Phrase modulation in Mozart's Sonata in A major, K.331, III (Alla turca), mm. 6–10.
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Sequential modulation in Beethoven's Sonata Op. 53, movement I
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Sequential modulation in Schubert's Piano Sonata in E Major, D. 459, movement III
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Sequential modulation through the circle of fifths in Quartet Op. 3, No. 3, IV, Hob. III:15, formerly attributed to Haydn (ca. 1840)
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Modulation up a whole step at the end of "Because the Night"
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See also
In Spanish: Modulación (música) para niños
