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Modulation

Changing key mid-piece. The smoothest route is a pivot chord — one triad that belongs to both keys, so the ear accepts it as home in the old key and hears it re-spelled as a function of the new one, then a cadence in the new key seals the change. Keys a fifth apart (one accidental different) share the most chords and modulate most easily; distant keys share few or none and usually need a direct or chromatic shift. Pick two keys and see what they share.

Two keys

Pivot chords they share

Each chord is named by its role in the old key and again in the new key — the two meanings the pivot hinges between.

Hear the modulation