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Part V: An Introduction to Scale
Modulations
First let’s start off by defining a new term. A
modulation on the scale level is a change of any note that is
normally expected in the key. For example, in D major you expect a C#
and an F#. But if you somehow feel that the C# sounds better as a
natural, or maybe that you want to raise the one the D# also, you are
modulating out of the key. Theoretically you can modulate any key, but
often times you’ll just get a scale in another mode. Modulation in
general is a much more complicated topic then just changing a couple of
notes in a scale, but fundamentally, that is what you are doing.
The most common modulations will be studied in the
following chapters. They are used so often in music (Western) that they
have common names. There are other modulated scales but they aren’t used
very often and therefore are generally unnamed.
I feel that music is completely boring without
modulations. There’s no innovation and everything follows a set pattern.
Modulations provide in a lot of cases, as we will see in the following
section, some amazing variation and tonal qualities to the piece.
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