Music Modulation

Tonality does not exist in absolute terms, it manifests itself through a harmonic motion where the chords have relationships with each other. Relationships of tension or release around a central chord called Tonic. On the other hands, tonality can be defined by the key signature. Moving from one key (Tonality) to another one is called, Modulation. There are several types of modulation.

  1. Direct Modulation. (moving directly from one key to another).
  2. Using transition chords (V7), "dominant 7th chords "See Chords lll page".
  3. Secondary dominant chords modulation.
  4. Using Pivot chords and Pivot notes. See the exemple below with: Here There and Every where (The Beatles)
  5. Modulation to the relative major chord using Pivot Chord, (Beethoven Moonlight Sonata)



1.  Direct Modulation going from C to G using (F#) the leading tone of G Major key

Matteo Carcassi - Op.60.pdf

3.  Modulating with secondary dominant chords.

The definition of the secondary or borrowed dominant chords is the use of a chord that is foreign to the original key (Tonic). The excerpt below is from the Beatles song " In my Life". The song is in the key of A major.

So that to analyse those four bars of the song, I suggest we simplify it and just write the main chords of that section.

Modulating with secondary dominant chords

Now it looks easier to see what's going on here. We see immediately that A7 doesn't belong to the key of A and plays here the role of the foreign chord. So, in this case, to which key A7 belongs to? A7 is the dominant seventh of D key and the arrow shows us that effectively it resolves on D. Since we have started in the key of A this passage ends also in the same key, we have to analyse the all section in the key of A. This is why A7 is labelled (V7/IV) and D is noted as the subdominant chord in A key, namely the fourth degree (IV). To finish off the analyse, we have to mention the plagal cadence, D to A (IV) to (I) in the bracket.  


Pivot chords

How to modulate with Pivot Chords. The excerpt is from my transcription of the Beatles song "Here There and Everywhere". The song is in G major and modulates to Em. As you can see I have used the chord F#º7 as a Pivot chord. Not only does it belong to the key of G (#VII7) but it is also the (#II) in the key of Em. B7 is here to confirm the new tonality and is also the dominant (V7) of Em. This type of modulation is very common and provides a smooth transition to a new key.


Here is the chord symbols progression of the song. The first G major section in blue and the following E minor section in red. Please note that Em is the relative minor of G. Below the chords symbol is the Roman numerals that express the chord degrees. For instance, in the key of G, not surprisingly G is the Tonic chord and is labeled (I). C from G is placed in the fourth position so (IV) and so on so forth. As you can see, we have F#ºm7 and Em that are in a "box". What does that mean? Effectively, these two Pivot chords do not only belong to the G key but also Em key. For instance, F#ºm7 is the (#viiº7) in the tonality of G and (#iiº7) in Em. Then, the dominant B7 (V7) chord resolves on Em and the dominant D7 (V7) resolves on G chord. It is easy to see the several leaps from B7 to Em, to A7 to D7 and then back to G. See circle of Fifths. Now, if you ask yourself, what A7(V7/V is, take a look at: modulating with secondary chords above this page.

How To Use Pivot Chords

Modulation to the relative major using Pivot chord. 

This example is from Beethoven Moonlight Sonata

This excerpt is from Mesure 5 to 9 on the music sheet . 

When it comes to taking a look at a piece of music such as the Beethoven Moonlight Sonata, it is essential to simplify the measures we want to analyse.

Click for the Utube version.

Now we see more in detail the chords progression from Am to its relative C major. (in the original piano version From C#minor to E major). Here Dm is the pivot chord that is the (IV-) on Am key and the (II-) on C major key. The usage of the Pivot chord we have in the "Moonlight Sonata" doesn't differ from the other examples above described. However, please note how smooth the chords progression are. For instance, the first inversion of E7 chord  that uses its third (G#) to resolve to the Tonic (A). Now, In the red box, when encounter the Cadential 6/4 using a double conjunct appoggiatura on the Dominant G7 (V7). See how G7 resolves nicely on C, the Tonic chord. For more examples see: cycle of fifth exercise. G7 (V7) belongs to the C major key.