Estimated reading time 3 minutes
Table of Contents
Introduction
Do you want to know what the word modulation means in music? Do you want to know how to make key changes in your songwriting? Modulation is when you use chromatic harmony to switch the tonal center of the music you’re writing. Doing this can make for dramatic, ear catching changes to the sound of your composition. Keep reading How to Unlock Music Key Changes with Modulation to learn what it is and how it works.
This article uses musical terms. For definitions, see the Glossary at the end of the post.
How to Unlock Music Key Changes with Modulation #1: What is Tritone Based Harmony?
Today we’ll discuss how you can use tritone based harmony to effectively modulate:
- Tritones, otherwise known as diminished fifths or augmented fourths, are dissonant intervals that need a special resolution to sound good.
- The notes either expand outward away from each other or inward toward each other by a half step: e.g., B-F to C-E or Cb-F to Bb-Gb. (Note: Cb = B.) This formulaic resolution helps smooth over the transition to a new tonal center.
- It does this by instantly tonicizing the new key. Tonicizing is the process of reorienting a listener’s ear to a new tonal center.
All the harmonies shown in this post use the resolving tritone to chromatically reorient your ear to a new key.
For a discussion of basic triadic modulation:
How to Unlock Music Key Changes with Modulation #2: What Are Dominant Seventh Harmonies?
Dominant seventh (V7) harmonies strongly want to resolve to the I triad:
- It’s called a dominant chord because it dominates the chord progression by pushing for a resolution to the I chord.
- A resolution in music is when the piece progresses from a dissonant chord to a consonant chord.
- You can use this effect to chromatically modulate from the current tonality to a new tonality.
For example:
Mobile users: for best results reading the music, rotate your screen 90o to the right.
Dominant Seventh Modulation Soundtrack:
How to Unlock Music Key Changes with Modulation #3: What Is a V7 of V Progression?
The chord progression in the previous section ended in a secondary dominant resolution:
- In other words, a dominant resolution is when you treat a triad as the I chord in the new key as you resolve from the V7 chord.
- This is often done by chromatically turning the I triad from the old key into the V7 of the new key.
- You can extend this by using chains of V7 harmonies to modulate through a sequence of keys making a series of V7of V progressions, so that the I triad in the old tonality acts as the V triad of the new tonality.
For example:
V7 of V Soundtrack:
How to Unlock Music Key Changes with Modulation #4: What Are Sub V7 Chords?
Any tritone will exist in two separate dominant seven chords, but with a different “spelling” for the notes. For example:
- G7 = G B D F
- Db7 = Db F Ab Cb
Both harmonies shown above share two notes: B/Cb and F. If you chromatically resolve the tritone in the opposite direction that usual, you can end up in a key a flattened fifth away:
Sub V7 Soundtrack:
Augmented sixth chords function in a similar way to Sub V7 harmonies and thus will have a similar effect.
Final Thoughts
Takeaway points:
- Modulation is when you use chromatic harmony to switch the tonal center of the music you’re writing.
- All the harmonies shown in this post use the resolving tritone to chromatically reorient your ear to a new key.
- It does this by using dominant harmony, including V7 of V and Sub V7 chords (the latter of which work similarly to augmented sixth chords).
…and with fully diminished seventh chords, you can do even more cool things, but that’s for another post.
Have fun writing!
Related Posts
- What Exactly Do I Do with the Circle of Fifths?
- How Do I Find the Key of a Song with Accidentals?
- D’you Want Some Music Tips and Tricks I’ve Learned Over the Years?
© 2025 Geoffrey Keith
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