Classic key modulations to seperate chorus/bridg from verses

[bjarnenorheim]

Hi there

This is probably super basic stuff that i never understood, is there some kind of formula to do this?
Ive noticed that the chorus often is in some higher key than the verses.
However, thats all i know:)


Thanks!

[nuffink]

Modulationfrom the mighty dolmetsch.com

The circle of fifths is your friend in working out how close or far a modulation is. The other great aid is Schoenberg's Chart of the regions.

[JumpingJackFlash]

Hi there

This is probably super basic stuff that i never understood, is there some kind of formula to do this?
Ive noticed that the chorus often is in some higher key than the verses.
However, thats all i know:)


Thanks!

See my Introduction to Modulation. That should help you understand the basics.

[Toxikator]

There are lots of cool ways to modulate, many of which are not covered in the basics thread.

The basics thread discusses Pivot Chord (or "common Chord") modulation; the modulation occurs on a chord shared by two keys.

There are other cool kinds as well;

In major, in particular, the altered 7th modulation (I just made this name up, I'm not familiar with any other name for it) is a fun one; For any major chord (usually I or IV), add a minor 7th; this will establish it as a dominant chord. It works surprisingly well; try playing Cmaj, Fmaj, Gdom7, Cdom7, FMaj.

If you're in the (harmonic) minor, on the other hand, a cool trick for modulation is the diminished7-dominant7 modulation (again, I just made that name up as I'm not familiar with any proper name for it)

For this trick, play a diminished 7th chord; typically, this will be on the viio (AKA #viio). This chord has the unique property that lowering any one of it's pitches by a half-step will result in a Dominant 7th chord, which then resolves nicely to its corresponding 1. So in Aminor, that's G#BDF... lowering G gives us the G7 (resolves to C or Cm), lowering the B gives us Bb7* (resolves to E or Em), etc.

*In order for this to make sense, you have to treat the tones enharmonically. In this case, the G# becomes Ab.

[Km7]

Yes, there are many different possibilities for modulation. There is also pivot tone modulation, direct modulation (without any pivot chords), sequential modulation, enharmonic modulation, and in a piece of music, the choice depends not only on what theoretically may seem most appropriate, but also on the composer's wish for sonic effect.