Building Blocks: Changing The Key

Modulation is the art of changing from one key to another, and it's an important part of keeping a song fresh. Change isn't always easy, though, so there's a couple different ways to make it work. In this month's Building Blocks, we're looking at all the different ways to switch keys, from smooth transitions to sudden jumps to something called a Truck Driver's Key Change. Plus some more advanced techniques to really mix things up and change the vibe.

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Also, thanks to Jareth Arnold and Inés Dawson for proofreading the script to make sure this all makes sense hopefully!

[tone]

And, watching through this, I realize that I wrote the wrong key signature for G major. Whoops! That should have just been one sharp, obviously.

[TomMilleyMusic]

One thing I like is to do sometimes change to a lower key, but have the melody go higher. It adds an interesting feel to things I find.

[emptypowersmtp]

Pivot chord modulation is subtle? That's a lowkey change.

[zozo-productions]

This is the only channel that actually teaches me USEFUL things. and you do it easily.

[rohanmehta]

This channel needs to be advertised to the masses pronto!

[naseemveevers]

AN ADAM NEELY AND A 12TONE VIDEO ON THE SAME DAY!!!

[lowe]

I'd have seen this vid sooner in my life: modulations explained so easily and so quickly.

Thanks again for your whole chan.

[lilybeejones]

Love On Top is the ultimate key change song. It's like a vocal warm up from the dark depths of hell. I adore it.

[NickHoad]

There's a Two Steps From Hell piece called Evergreen which uses pivot modulation to go from D minor to F minor to C minor to Eb minor, almost without the listener noticing. It's really interesting.

[PlayTheMind]

E major –> Red Velvet cake
F# major –> Tiramisu

[jacobalvarez-ruiz]

I'm so gladI found this channel! The way you explain and introduce new music vocabulary to the viewer in a completely understandable way is great. Other music theorists on YouTube introduce new musical concepts to me but leave me intimidated and even discouraged. Thank you so much!

[adriangonzalez]

Very helpful I’ve been writing this song for the past 2 days thank u

[delektris]

Just arrived. Already hooked. This rocks.

[BuildwithAI]

I just discovered your channel and I could not be more happy! From a fellow producer thank you!

[krang]

Those little artistic doodles just crack me up. Keep up the great work Corey. Cheers!

[joshuapearson]

I like the way that if you press skip once at the end after he says "if you want to hear more then please"...

Then he ends up saying "Please... keep on rockin"!

[luckylucas]

(Only for comparison and educational purposes) In my theory class, we talked about "closely related keys." They were the keys built from the perfect four and five away of the original tonic, and the relative major/minor of the tonic, fourth, and fifth key as well. Additionally, a mode of the tonic and a chromatic step up or down could also be considered "closely related, " but I didn't see it very often in my workbook. Jumping up thirds, sixths, etc. are things that I've never seen in my theory class, but I like the idea of being able to go to any key better than being limited to "closely related" ones.

[ConnerStephen-gg]

Haha Love on Top is literally why I'm here. Thanks for the theory!

[IAmisMaster]

This the single most important tool in good songwriting. All the greats from Bach, Beethoven, Gershwin, Irving Berlin, Duke Ellington, Miles Davis, Brian Wilson, Paul McCartney etc. knew exactly how and when to change keys and modes.

[syndddd]

Love pivot chord modulations! They open up so many doors for interesting chord progressions