Modulation: The Soul Of The Western Tonal System

MODULATION: THE SOUL OF THE WESTERN TONAL SYSTEM

Modulation is the single most extraordinary and musically potent aspect of the Western tonal system of 12 major keys, 12 minor keys and equal temperament.

As discussed near the end of Chapter 5, modulation means changing the key, moving the tonal centre within a piece of music.

Too bad most songwriters don’t know how to exploit the capacity for modulation. It’s one of many reasons they turn out boatloads of unforgivably monotonous tunes.



Making the transition from the original tonality (key) to a new one usually takes from a couple of bars to a full four-bar phrase. Songwriters who know how to modulate will often change keys at a natural sectional boundary, such as the end of a verse, going into a bridge or chorus. At the end of the contrasting section, tonality moves back to the original key.

If the tonality does not move back to the original key, you probably have a shift modulation, a decidedly distasteful way of moving tonality (see below).

Read more: http://howmusicreallyworks.com/Pages_Chapter_6/6_12.html

Magic Ear (musical stereograms)

Just like stereograms add a new dimension to visual art, I have a theory that modulation can be used to add a new dimension to music. Modulation is the soul of the Western tonal system, yet it's still on melody and chords progression that the listener is expected to focus on. Like the 2D patterns used to build a Magic Eye image, melody and chords ought to become only bricks used to build a much more profound kind of melody than just single notes: a melody made up of scales and modes.