Modulation using the Circle of Fifths - Music Theory
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- Äas pĆidĂĄn 1. 06. 2024
- How to use the circle of fifths to modulate and change keys. If we are writing or improvising a piece of music and we want to modulate to other keys, how do we decide which keys to move to? The Circle of 5ths not only explains the whole key system but makes clear which are the closest keys for modulation. This is incredibly helpful in helping us to design a key scheme for a piece of music. For example you may be writing or improvising in the key of G Major. If you want to modulate, where are the nearest related keys? E Minor is what we call the relative minor key i.e. it shares the F# key signature with the home key of G Major. D Major is next to G Major and simply involves adding C# to the F# we already have. C Major is next door to G Major moving in the opposite direction on the Circle of 5ths and simply involves eliminating the F#. Very quickly we discover that these are the most closely related keys and we learn from the Circle of 5ths what we need to do in order to get from one of these keys to another. If you want to be liberated with modulation watch this music theory lesson.
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đ Timestamps
0:00 - Introduction to modulation using the circle of fifths
2:47 - Smooth modulations to nearby keys
8:13 - Modulation between major and minor keys
10:34 - Why it's useful to understand the circle of fifths
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This is by far the simplest and clearest explanation of modulation I've heard. Good job, and thank you!
A pleasure. Much more at www.mmcourses.co.uk
More like... the oval of fifths, amiright?
(Thank you for making this!!!!)
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hahaha indeed
@3:36, the car analogy đ€Ł. Great video by the way. Thank you.
A pleasure
This is a must watch for every aspiring composer, songwriter. Best explanation ever!
Thatâs most kind. Much more at www.mmcourses.co.uk
Very helpful. And by the way, your improvised examples are elegantđ
A pleasure. Much more at the Music Matters website including our complete Theory course www.mmcourses.co.uk/p/music-theory-grades-1-to-8
Thank you very kindly for these lessons. I've been playing piano for almost 30 years and I was oblivious to all of these nuances in music theory.
Thatâs great. Much more at www.mmcourses.co.uk
Wow, thank you! As a self-taught musician, I've spent years avoiding the Circle of Fifths, because it always seemed like some high-concept, arcane piece of theory. But this explanation is very straightforward and lays everything out very clearly. Like seemingly most things in music theory, it's a simple base concept that can be expanded into some very complex and interesting uses. Cheers!
Absolutely. A pleasure. See www.mmcourses.co.uk for much more.
Very good video. You're knowledge of the circle of fifths is humbling and inspiring since I know those chords but they don't roll off the tongue as easily as they do with you.
I'll hit the books.
Keep at it and the info will soon be fluent.
Loved this!!!! Finally made the concept click! Thanks!
Thatâs great. See www.mmcourses.co.uk for much more.
Thank you so much for this great clear-cut explanation!!
Itâs a pleasure. Much more at www.mmcourses.co.uk including details of our online courses and of our exciting Maestros programme.
What a fantastic explanation!!! Thank you!!!
A pleasure. Much more at www.mmcourses.co.uk
This helps tie in secondary dominants A LOT more nicely; it helps to realize you simply canât incorporate any key as a part of your secondary dominant, otherwise itâll be dramatically abrupt. Thank you for this two in one lesson; youâre an excellent teacher!
Thatâs most kind. Much more at www.mmcourses.co.uk including 25 online courses and details of Music Matters Maestros.
Smashing video Gareth, I love the part in the composition course when you show us mortals how to modulate to completely unrelated keys with that really smooth clutchđ
Glad itâs helpful
This makes perfect sense.. well explained and very thorough demonstrations. Thank you!
Thatâs great. Much more at www.mmcourses.co.uk
This was quite helpful. Thank you kindly sir.
A pleasure. See www.mmcourses.co.uk for much more.
best video i have ever been about modulation using the circle of 5th
Thatâs most kind. Much more at www.mmcourses.co.uk
Excellent as always, thanks so much!
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Very well explained! Thank you.
Most kind. Much more at www.mmcourses.co.uk including details of our online courses and of our exciting Maestros programme.
Wonderful. Thanks for your to the point explanation. Very helpful.
A pleasure. Much more at www.mmcourses.co.uk
9:47
The chords that minor and major keys have in common seem like devices to travel great distances very quickly in a composition, with elegance.
(Like wormholes in space? Space itself must have "hidden" properties, just like music has something going on, let's say, behind the scenes... Is that why music is so effective in taking us to different places, or "places", in a specific and universal way? Music is like a door, or a bridge. Maybe we've been doing a certain kind of space/time travel since ages ago through music. Maybe that Kubrick's decision of editing Strauss music and space traveling together was even more brilliant than it seems... Well, time to go to bed)
Thanks for another very good and inspirational lesson! Music Matters!
A pleasure. Much more at www.mmcourses.co.uk
Perceptual travels, society had made it somewhat universal, music that changes the further hearing of music :)
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Thank you, so basically I can easily modulate to 1 of 5 different key signatures. That's great and very helpful to know. I wondered how you were going to explain the the major to minor of the same Tone, but the explanation on the harmonic scale makes perfect sense, thank you. Also very helpful.
Glad itâs helpful
I really like your approach to this topic!
Thatâs most kind. Much more at www.mmcourses.co.uk including details of our online courses and of our exciting Maestros programme.
AMAZING! Thank you so much sir
A pleasure. Many more resources at www.mmcourses.co.uk
Very clear and useful. Thank you
Thanks. See www.mmcourses.co.uk for much more
Your this Tutorial really changed my attitude of looking towards COF and its usefulness in modulatiĆ.
Thank you very much sir. God bless you and your family and your team.
Most kind. See www.mmcourses.co.uk for details of our 25 online courses and of our exciting Maestros programme.
Thank you so much. Great video.
Itâs a pleasure. See www.mmcourses.co.uk for the rest of the course and to sign up to our newsletter.
Thanks a lot. This is one of the music theory subjects I like most. Please feel free to create more videos on the subject of modulation. Another interesting subject would be how to create or reinforce specific emotions with the music. Your videos are great ! Thank you again. Looking forward for your next youtube video !
Thatâs great. Thanks for the encouragement. Okay, we will address those requests in future videos.
For convenience, here another of your great videos about modulation and pivot chord : czcams.com/video/Tgyq6RfIF6c/video.html
And here is another one : czcams.com/video/07kqN85MMc8/video.html
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Thankyou so much sir, I was confused with the concept of modulation of keys, and I hav seen the perfect explanation âš it's nearly 2:30am and morning I have theory grade 5 exam, thankyou so much once again sir !
Good luck with the exam
You have helped me a lot with my music theory knowledge. Learning Thoroughbass was also a great help. I am playing Bach PrĂ©lude in Do Major in all keys, and my piano teacher is encouraging me to continue. I'm trying to improve my keyboard skills and become more musical. I've been using Moulin de Ville (BurgmĂŒller) and opus 100. Number 1 is a study in pentatonics, number 2 is a study in minor, and number 4 is a study in thirds. I started transposing them also into other keys. But there seem to be several measures that lend itself to modulate into different keys within the song. A rewrite, maybe? I have my piano lesson tomorrow and will discuss it with my teacher. Maybe you could do it so that students could travel on the circle of fifths whilst playing these pieces?
Great plan. Glad youâre finding our material helpful.
Thanks for this wonderful video. I felt like it was quite informative!
Excellent. Much more at www.mmcourses.co.uk
My ever best online music matters channel. Keep the fire burning. Sir, I love the way you play piano. Could you plz make, Video on how to play keyboard to advanced, especialy four part. I will appreciate alot. From Kenya.
A pleasure. Much more at www.mmcourses.co.uk including details of our 25 online courses and of our exciting Maestros programme. Will put your request on the list.
Thank you for what you do, sending you esteem.
Thatâs very kind. See www.mmcourses.co.uk for much more.
So helpful your your Tutorial is. It has changed my attitude of looking towards the COF and how it can help modulating the melody.
God bless you and your family and your team.
Thank you so much... you solved a lot of issues for even at the moment. Wish i can get to you directly sir. I need a direct tutor on counter point and more on this modulations. God bless you
A pleasure. See www.mmcourses.co.uk for much more including details of online one to one tuition.
heya thank you that's a fab video wish I could just think of a piece of music like you do !!
A pleasure. Youâll get there.
Thank you kindly.
A pleasure
Excellent đđ
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Thank you!
A pleasure. Much more at www.mmcourses.co.uk including details of our online courses and of our exciting Maestros programme. If you value this channel and would like to help us continue to share and develop the content please consider supporting us as a level 1 Maestro by clicking here czcams.com/channels/8yI8P7Zi3yYTsypera-IQg.htmljoin Alternatively you can express your support for the channel by clicking on the Super Thanks button beneath any of our videos. Thank you.
Hello Music Matters! Thank you for your video and all your work ,it really helps.My question is when we modulate in a piece of music , do we change totally the key of the song or are we creating phrases in different chords and then we get back to the tonal key?
You can do either.
Hi!
I have just watched two of your video's and I just wanted to say how clear and informative your style of teaching is - Thank you!
Also I have one question which I really hope you can help me with? I wanted to ask this.........
If you are composing a chorale and you do a first modulation from the to the dominant should your next modulation after that be to a related key of the tonic key or a related key of the dominant (the key modulated to after the tonic)? I hope this makes sense, it was hard to put it into words.
Thank you very much in advance for you time and help.
Iâm pleased youâre finding the videos helpful. In terms of modulation in Chorales there is no set format. The best thing is to be guided by the melody - look out for accidentals and for cadence formations. If you want any one to one help we can organise that on Skype.
Music Matters Thank you so much for your help and very fast reply! If I am stuck I will let you know and we can organise Skype etc. It is nice to know I have someone to help if I need it! Thank you and I will be in touch if I need help!
Thanks again!
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Brilliant !
Thatâs kind. See www.mmcourses.co.uk for our 25 online courses and details of our Maestros programme.
Very helpful!
Thatâs great. See www.mmcourses.co.uk for details of our 25 online courses and of our Maestros programme
Thanks for sharing this idea. I was just wondering what is the logic behind those modulations which I noticed on few musical pieces.
Itâs the logic of working from one key to a neighbouring key.
Hey, Gareth, u are so darn smart in ur profession, u plsu beaitifully; u shld be knighted by the Queen. (Hope ur UK students or Board of Dirs) submits ur name. Wow, u r the best. Love ur excellency in teaching and not kidding around. So professional. U are the best on utube in teaching music sir Englishman.
When I visit UK again, will try to come to ur studio to see you.
Thatâs really generous of you. Iâm just glad to share it. Youâll be very welcome if you come to the uk. Meanwhile, see www.mmcourses.co.uk for much more.
Hi! This is a really helpful channel! Just a question about modulation: When modulating from C major to its dominant G, what note of C will be raised?
The 4th note. F becomes F#
Hello Mr Green from 2NZ. Just found your videos and your the only teacher I have found to explain things easily. One question I would like to go from D major to dramatic A flat major have u found just ONE key maybe to transition easily?? If no pivots how about one or two keys just to hop in to a flat really dramatic ally thank u.
Hi. Thank you. If you want to be dramatic just plunge into the new key. If you want to transition more smoothly go from the tonic chord of D to V7 in Eb then use the tonic of Eb as the V of Ab.
Thank you so much
A pleasure. See www.mmcourses.co.uk for more.
Hi! I love your videos! Also had a quick question cause I confuse myself a lot thinking about modulations, but if I wanted to modulate from D major to B minor, I wouldn't (?) be able to use the tonic chord in D major and move to the mediant in B minor because of the raised a# , correct? Leading tones mess me up!
I'm sure the great man himself will chime in with some better insight, but I believe using harmonic minor scale (B harmonic minor in this case) to form the chords of a minor key is the right approach.
So yes, maybe it would be smoother to avoid using a chord which contains the A in this example. However, I suppose you could reasonably play the D Major chord, imagining the A as an appogiatura, and ascend chromatically A-A#-B, with the implied harmony being D major, F# Major, B minor.
Interested to see what Gareth has to say.
G major, E minor and even B minor itself are chords common to the two keys, none of which contain the problematic A/A#, so can be used as pivot chords that move smoothly to the F# major chord which will establish the new key.
Melodically, have the G in G major or E minor descend so that it doesn't need to be sharpened.
I would set it up like this:
D - G#7 (no 5) - C#m - F# - Bm
The F# serves as the V of Bm, which is very helpful in establishing Bm as the new tonal center. The C#m chord (borrowed from B major) also helps with that because it is the ii in the ii - V - i progression. Going from D to Cm doesn't sound very pleasant, so it would be great if we could put another chord in between those. I opted for the V7 of Cm because that gives a strong pull to Cm and it has both a common tone with the D chord (F#) and the C#m chord (G#). I chose to omit the fifth because it was just a bit 'too much'.
When you modulate itâs always good to find the pivot chords so you know your options.
Thank you đđ»
A pleasure. Much more at www.mmcourses.co.uk
I am writing a pastoral piece. So far my modulations have been this:
F -> C -> Am -> Bb -> Cm
And in this C minor section, I have this repeating progression:
i, i6(first inversion), i, iv(with Ab in the melody giving it a more dissonant quality), i, i6, i, vii°65(first inversion 7th chord)
The first time this progression plays, the diminished 7th isn't resolved right away because there is a rest after the diminished 7th, and the fact that I go back to tonic for the repeat doesn't really change that. so tension is built up. The second time the progression plays, this diminished 7th is resolved right away so there is a release of tension. I think part of the reason the F minor sounds so dissonant is because with this progression, over the C minor chords, the bass rises and the melody falls. Then the opposite happens when I use 16th notes to transition into the F minor and the diminished 7th. That and the fast tempo really raises the tension.
Now, after some time in this C minor section, I want to modulate back to F major. There are a few obvious solutions here. Here they are:
1) Stopping the progression at the F minor chord and going straight into F major via parallel modulation
2) Still stopping the progression at the F minor chord but going to a C7(and possibly a whole C major section) before arriving at F major
3) Stopping the progression at the diminished 7th and using it to go to C major rather than C minor, then after some time in C major, arriving at F major via a C7
4) End the progression on C minor and then start a circle of fifths progression in the modulations, so C minor -> G minor -> D minor(ending it with the subtonic dominant 7th instead of the leading tone diminished 7th to reinforce that major tonality is coming back) -> F major
Since I have been having modulations at a pretty regular pace(or I should say key signature changes because some of my modulations are short compared to the change in key signature(namely my Am modulation only lasting for 4 bars compared to the natural key signature which lasts for more than 10 bars)), I'm thinking of using the circle of fifths progression to keep that key signature change regularity. Do you think I should use the circle of fifths here to keep the key signature changes regular, even if that means that my global tonic of F major doesn't come back for another 20 bars or so? Or do you think I should use one of the other options to go back to F major sooner but get rid of the key signature regularity that I would have using the circle of fifths?
You have good options there. Best thing is to go with what you like the sound of best.
i find peter cetera's modulations pretty complex but still sounding very natural and attractive. would you do a video on what thoughts once can apply to do those kind of transitions especialy in orchestration. . Thanks
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When writing a piece, do you keep the same key signature and use accidentals or change the key? Is there a best practice?
Usually we maintain the same key signature and use accidentals unless a substantial proportion of the piece is going to sit in a different key. Much more at www.mmcourses.co.uk including details of our online courses and of our exciting Maestros programme.
brilliant.
Thatâs most kind. See www.mmcourses.co.uk for much more, including details of our 25 online courses and of our exciting Maestros programme.
So if I want to modulate from D Major to Ab Major smoothly I can go like D>A>E>B...>F#>C#>Ab right?
That will work
When you add the g#, are you automatically then writing in A major before the cadence or is it still in D major just with an added G# before the cadence?
Once introduced that g# modulates the music into A major
@@MusicMattersGB thank you :)
A pleasure. Much more at www.mmcourses.co.uk
Why did you have a B in the pivot chord for D to A using the G# @ 6.50 ? That looks like E7
Sorry. Iâm struggling to see this at 6:50. Apologies
very useful
Thatâs good to hear. See www.mmcourses.co.uk for much more.
Is there a reason you include C# and Cb in the circle of 5ths? The circle usually closes on F#/Gb.
This is the full circle ie in Cb major every note is flat and in C# major every note is sharp so theyâre included for completion.
Awesome
Thatâs kind of you. Much more at www.mmcourses.co.uk
Hi Sir what do u mean introducing accidentals?Thanks
Accidentals are sharps, flats and naturals. A sharp (#) raises a note by a semitone, a flat (b) lowers a note by a semitone, and a natural restores original pitch. See www.mmcourses.co.uk Theory Courses for the full explanation.
just a random thing, wouldn't the flat added to a Cb major key signature be an Fb, not an Ab? I know that Fb is just E, but it would be more correct than Ab, which gets added in Eb major
Yes it should be an Fb. Well spotted!
@@MusicMattersGB Thanks! Just for clarification :)
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thank you so much you're a great musician, also congrats on the weight loss I thought your channel got taken over by your brother haha
Youâre most kind.
But aren't most songs on the radio or short songs in one key?
Most songs modulate to at least one other key to give contrast.
One can also use a single common note (if only that note is played prior to key change) to transition to a key thatâs not suppose to work. The perfect chord makes sens, itâs smooth and all, but is always predictable and boring. Learn this stuff so you can find ways to break the rules and make it work at the same time. Theory is one thing, creativity is another, and the latter is what you need the most
Sure. The video obviously focuses on the Circle of 5ths but of course there are many other options.
Why am i having a hard headache over something that kids will even learn
Watch it again. Youâll soon conquer it!
I'm still mystified as to how to transition once I've found a pivot chord.
Once youâve located a pivot chord you then proceed in the new key.
An effective way of establishing the new key is to play a II V I in the new key or IV V I
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Toooo faaassssttt Mister...đđđ
Then slow it down and play it again. Simple.
This is certainly good to repeat if itâs new to you.
Thank you!
Itâs a pleasure. See www.mmcourses.co.uk for much more