Modulation (music)

Example of modulation from the tonic to the dominant.[1]Play
Key signature change example: C major to C minor.

In music, modulation is the change from one tonality (tonic, or tonal center) to another. This may or may not be accompanied by a change in key signature (a key change). Modulations articulate or create the structure or form of many pieces, as well as add interest. Treatment of a chord as the tonic for less than a phrase is considered tonicization.

Modulation is the essential part of the art. Without it there is little music, for a piece derives its true beauty not from the large number of fixed modes which it embraces but rather from the subtle fabric of its modulation.

— Charles-Henri Blainville (1767)[2]
  1. ^ Boston Academy of Music, Lowell Mason (1836). The Boston Academy's Collection of Church Music, pp. 16–18. Fourth edition. J. H. Wilkins and R. B. Carter.
  2. ^ Forte, Allen (1979). Tonal Harmony in Concept & Practice, p. 265. ISBN 0-03-020756-8.