Modulations

Moving from one key to another. To be truly a modulation, it is necessary to touch several degrees of the new key; otherwise, it is called tonicization.

thanks! and what is the simplest form for a modulation?

Modulations to related keys/distant keys are the easiest to understand and perform at the beginning... In my opinion. I looked it up a while ago and even Wikipedia explains how they happen

Fox wrote:

what is the simplest form for a modulation?

There isn't just one way, but a thousand ways. Chords or modulating paths are used to start from one key and go to another.

For example, here you will find a series of different paths to modulate to the major third degree; it is perhaps one of the less immediate ones, but this way you can understand what it's about

Modulation to the major third degree

To modulate you can use different techniques: enharmony, common chords, tonicization

AbateFaria wrote:

To modulate you can use different techniques: enharmony, common chords, tonicization

Even hypothetical chords, through affinity of thirds, etc.

thanks to everyone!

Aspirante wrote:

The transition from one key to another. To truly be a modulation, it is necessary to touch upon several degrees of the new key; otherwise, it is called tonicization.

Hi, sorry, I would like to ask you something: if the modulation lasts only one measure (so it doesn't touch various degrees of the new key) and it isn't a secondary dominant, what is it? A transition? For example, I am in C Major and an F# appears; let's say I find myself in the key of A minor (melodic). The whole thing lasts only one measure because in the following measure I am back in C Major. What happened: a modulation or a transition?

Thank you very much

A tonicization

Aspirante wrote:

A tonicization

thanks.. but does tonicization also exist without a secondary dominant?

(I'll add that in the example I reported above, F# could also be the dominant of G major and therefore a secondary dominant V/V)

Hi everyone, sorry, I would like to ask you how one usually modulates using the diminished seventh chord?

Fox wrote:

Hi everyone, sorry, I would like to ask you how one usually modulates using the diminished seventh chord?

As we were saying in the other post, since each dim7 chord belongs to 4 different keys, the transitions from one to another are immediate (modulation via common chords).

To simplify, in the repertoire you will find that in the target key, if the diminished seventh is on the VII degree, it resolves directly to the tonic; if it is on the IV degree (understood as the leading tone of the dominant), it allows passing to keys not belonging to the starting group.

Suppose, for example, you want to modulate from Cmaj to Gbmaj, you will have:

Cmaj Dmin Gmaj Bdim7 - Fdim7 Gbmaj Dbmaj Gbmaj

or rather

I-ii^-V^-vii-vii'^^-I'-V'-I'

(' indicates it is the degree of the new key, inversions are only to avoid fifths, and with ^ I indicate the first (36), with ^^ I indicate the second (46))

in fact Bdim7 with double inversion is enharmonically equal to Fdim7 which is on the VII of Gbmaj (the rest of the soup serves to confirm the starting and target keys).

Suppose instead you do the following progression:

Cmaj Dmin Fmaj Gbdim7=Ebdim7 Emaj^^ Bmaj Emaj

As you can see, Gbdim7 is not on the VII of C, nor Eb, nor Gb, nor A, but it is on the VII of the V of C, which allows you to arrive at Emaj, even though it doesn't have a dim7 enharmonically equivalent to Cmaj

Thanks! maybe I'm understanding!!

Basically you used the diminished chord - - - Fdim7 - - - as the leading tone of Cmaj

however you could also have used Bdim7 and resolve to the base tonic, which is Cmaj, did I understand correctly?

The only thing that doesn't make sense to me is the augmented 4th degree (of the major scale) that was discussed in the other post, whereas here we used the 4th degree; am I missing something?

Bianca wrote:

As we were saying in the other post, since each dim7 chord belongs to 4 different keys, the transitions from one to another are immediate (modulation via common chords).

To simplify, in the repertoire you will find that in the target key, if the diminished seventh is on the VII degree, it resolves directly to the tonic; if it is on the IV degree (understood as the leading tone of the dominant), it allows for a transition to keys not belonging to the starting group.

Suppose, for example, you want to modulate from Cmaj to Gbmaj, you will have:

Cmaj Dmin Gmaj Bdim7 - Fdim7 Gbmaj Dbmaj Gbmaj

or rather

I-ii^-V^-vii-vii'^^-I'-V'-I'

(' indicates it is the degree of the new key, inversions are only to avoid fifths, and with ^ I indicate the first (36), with ^^ I indicate the second (46) )

in fact Bdim7 with double inversion is enharmonically equal to Fdim7 which is on the VII of Gbmaj (the rest of the soup serves to confirm the starting and target keys).

Suppose instead you do the following progression:

Cmaj Dmin Fmaj Gbdim7=Ebdim7 Emaj^^ Bmaj Emaj

As you can see, Gbdim7 is not on the VII of C, nor Eb, nor Gb, nor A, but it is on the VII of the V of C, which allows you to arrive at Emaj, even though it doesn't have a dim7 enharmonically equivalent to Cmaj

Is Fdim7 the modulating chord? I am not entirely sure I understood how you calculated it; can I ask from which scale you derived the leading tone of the dominant? Should I calculate the leading tone of the dominant of the target key or the starting key? (to form a modulating chord on the 4th augmented degree, etc.)

thanks a lot

Fox wrote:

The only thing that doesn't make sense to me is the augmented 4th degree (of the major scale) which was discussed in the other post, whereas here we used the 4th degree; am I missing something?

obviously I missed an "augmented" one, but beach life doesn't help...

the leading tone of the dominant is the augmented IV of the tonic (given C, the leading tone of the dominant G is F#, which is the augmented IV of C)

in other words, if you are in C, its dominant is G, so from here you operate as if you were temporarily in the key of G, which becomes the new temporary tonic (tonicization). This often happens with secondary dominants, but it can also happen with secondary leading tones and relative dim7. Therefore, the dim7 of G is F#dim7 (Gbdim7), which is enharmonically equivalent to D#dim7 (Ebdim7), which is indeed the leading tone of E (with this passage, it is no longer a matter of tonicization but of an actual modulation).

Fdim7 is also equivalent to Bdim7 in second inversion.

I hope I have explained myself...

i forgot... another method used in repertoire to modulate with dim7 consists of transforming them into dominant sevenths...

Bianca wrote:

obviously I missed an "augmented" one, but beach life doesn't help...

the leading tone of the dominant is the augmented IV of the tonic (given C, the leading tone of the dominant G is F#, which is the augmented IV of C)

in other words, if you are in C, its dominant is G, so from here you operate as if you were temporarily in the key of G, which becomes the new temporary tonic (tonicization). This often happens with secondary dominants, but it can also happen with secondary leading tones and relative dim7. Therefore, the dim7 of G is F#dim7 (Gbdim7), which is enharmonically equivalent to D#dim7 (Ebdim7), which is indeed the leading tone of E (with this passage, it is no longer a matter of tonicization but of an actual modulation).

Fdim7 is also equivalent to Bdim7 in second inversion.

I hope I have explained myself...

i forgot... another method used in repertoire to modulate with dim7 consists of transforming them into dominant sevenths...

thanks a million!!!!!

so if I have to modulate from Cmaj to Gbmaj, the modulating diminished seventh chord will be F#dim7, right?

in your sequence Cmaj Dmin Gmaj Bdim7 - Fdim7 Gbmaj Dbmaj Gbmaj, the Fdim7 becomes F#dim7 because it is the augmented IV degree of C, which is the leading tone of the dominant (G) as you were saying

but do I eliminate the Gbmaj? What would be the correct sequence?

I got confused again