Some great examples of key changes

[00:00:00]Hey everyone. I've got what I think is a very interesting video today and it's about modulating into new keys. And so this is good for songwriters, arrangers, jazz improvisers, um people arranging pop songs. So I'm going to cover a couple of jazz songs, Have You Met Miss Jones and The Days of Wine and Roses.

[00:00:20]I'm going to cover one classical song, Arabesque by Debussy. And then I've got four pop songs here. One is uh Release Me, [music] Engelbert Humperdinck. Uh I Write the Songs, Barry Manilow. I Want to Dance with Somebody, Whitney Houston. And Livin' on a Prayer, that's my favorite, uh by Bon Jovi.

[00:00:39]>> [music] >> So let's start with uh Bill Evans, The Days of Wine and Roses. He goes halfway through the s- the head of the song and then s- switches from the key of F to A flat. So it's like And then he just jumps up a minor third.

[00:01:15]>> [music] >> And all of a sudden he's in A flat.

[00:01:34]And then, you know, here's the turnaround in A flat, a 3625.

[00:01:43]And then just simply modulates to another 25 to get us back to F. G minor and back to F.

[00:01:51]And you know, if you're improvising on that little section, uh starting with the C minor.

[00:01:56]>> [music] >> It's the It's very smooth either way going up to A flat or coming back down. Now, another one that's um pretty interesting is Have You Met Miss Jones?

[00:02:13]And the version I listened to was by Ted Rosenthal and I'm going to put a link in the description cuz I mean, if this guy had been playing in the like the '50s or '60s, 1960s, he'd be a household name.

[00:02:26]But, there's so many great pianists out there now that you know, nobody's probably ever heard of him. Ted Rosenthal, he's a great player. I love his arrangement of Have You Met Miss Jones. And uh so, it's like uh So, he uses three different keys just in one verse of the song. Starts in D.

[00:02:52]You know, uh And then, what does he do here?

[00:02:58]Just goes to [music] a like an F minor ninth and this is going to be a a 2 5 1 to get us into our new key of What is it? E flat.

[00:03:08]And then, now [music] he's here.

[00:03:11]All right? We started in D.

[00:03:14]And >> [music] >> See?

[00:03:23]>> [music] >> And then And that's the same note that starts the next verse. Then, he plays the whole bridge in that key.

[00:03:34]>> [music] >> Yeah.

[00:03:44]And then, >> [music] >> that note becomes the 11th of a minor seventh chord. That's a 2 5 1 going to go to key of D flat.

[00:03:52]>> [music] >> And then his leading um for the solo, you know, the band cuts and he goes something like he stays in in D flat for a second.

[00:04:09]>> [music] >> And then he goes like like that and then right? [music] So, he does like a little approach tones.

[00:04:21]>> [music] >> I think he uses the roots, you know, the E minor and the A seventh to get back to D.

[00:04:27]So, two great jazz songs. One more two that I didn't talk about in the beginning was is my version of >> [music] [music] >> So, if you're walking up two, [music] three, four, five and you're staying in E flat, that's one way, but my version is play a minor [music] chord here on the four and then just make that a a 251 A flat, [music] D flat to G flat and then you're in this key, this lovely key.

[00:05:14]>> [music] >> So, I think I've done a video about that recently and maybe I've done a recording. If not, it will be on my next album, hopefully. All right, let's cover that classical song real quickly and you know, Debussy he's in the key of C and he's he's doing the chords like this.

[00:05:37]>> [music] >> He's got this big G chord here.

[00:05:41]Here he is in the key of C.

[00:05:48]Still in the key of C.

[00:05:55]All right, now because I don't have much sustain on this piano, I'm playing some of the notes that are tied, but All right, so we've got this augmented chord here, C augmented.

[00:06:07]And then just changes this one note like this and all of a sudden it's C sharp [music] minor.

[00:06:12]And C sharp minor is closely related to A major. Right, and this is the four chord because we're going back into the key of E, I do believe. Yes.

[00:06:22]And you know, this is a song that's got that.

[00:06:31]What I would call that is a pivot modulation and I'm not sure if that's quite the right term, but you know, if you've got C major, >> [music] >> go to the augmented and then you've got these two notes that you're kind of pivoting [music] on and then move that one up, you've got C sharp minor and then that changes to A major.

[00:06:50]It takes you back to the key of E. Okay, let's get to the fun stuff.

[00:06:53]This is one of the craziest modulations I think I've ever heard, but it sounds just perfectly normal, but it's it's uh if if you have a great vocalist, it could be electrifying. love again.

[00:07:07]>> [music] >> Please So, uh uh Engelbert is singing in the key [music] of F. Please release me and let me [music] love again. So, he's in F here.

[00:07:23]Then Please [music] release me, let me go.

[00:07:30]And you know, of course, when he sings it, it's electrifying.

[00:07:34]All right. And I would call that a prepared modulation because you do the dominant chord >> [music] >> leading to the new key.

[00:07:43]Next song is I write the songs and it was not written by Barry Manilow of all things, you know, you would think that would be like a song that he wrote, but he did not write that.

[00:07:52]And he's in the key of F and [clears throat] he modulates twice and one's prepared modulation and but the first one isn't.

[00:08:00]Yeah, he's he's [music] in the key of F and he's kind of on the bridge and he's singing um it's for me, it's for you, [music] it's for you, it's for [singing] me, it's a world wide symphony. [music] And then I write the songs that make [music] So, you know, it goes from F to A without any real preparation. However, he does sing >> [music] >> uh symphony, which is the melody note of the five chord [music] that takes you to A. So, you know, it has that note in common, you could call it a maybe a another pivot modulation because of that one note or maybe you call it a prepared modulation, slightly prepared, but not very much. Then he's in A. I am music >> [music] >> and I write [singing] the songs.

[00:08:54]I write the songs. So, you know, you you hear him take it down to F sharp as the dominant chord. [music] So, that is definitely a prepared modulation. You prepare the modulation with a big dominant [music] seventh chord.

[00:09:05]And, you know, that's probably the most typical kind, but when you do an unprepared modulation, it's more exciting.

[00:09:13]>> [music] >> I want to dance with somebody by Whitney Houston.

[00:09:21]And uh she's in F sharp and she's going to take it up to Well, let's call it G flat. [music] She's in G flat and she's going to take it up to A flat. So, up a whole step.

[00:09:33]But how she do it? Very interesting.

[00:09:36]It's it seems like it's prepared, but it's a fake out prepare. So, >> [music] >> she's singing uh And when [singing] the night falls, my lonely heart calls. And the And the band goes >> [music] >> right? And so, you know, that's like the dominant chord going back to A sharp. My lonely heart falls.

[00:10:01]>> [music] >> Ooh, I want to dance with somebody.

[00:10:03]That's where it feels like it's going to go, but that's not what happens. And when >> [music] >> the night falls, my lonely [singing] heart calls.

[00:10:11]>> [music] >> All right? So, it just jumps from You think it's going to jump to there, but it jumps up to A flat. I want to dance [music] with somebody. Lonely heart calls.

[00:10:25]All right, so that's a good one. Now, the absolute best one in my opinion, the most exciting, is Living on a Prayer, uh Bon Jovi. They're in the key of G [music] major or E minor, you know.

[00:10:37]Johnny used to work on the docks. And then uh >> [music] >> Living [singing] on a prayer. And then there's like a guitar solo, and it goes something like um Yeah, he's up here on like singing a high G. The chords are, [music] you know, the four chord, the five chord.

[00:11:01]So, you know, you think it's going to go back to Whoa, >> [singing and music] >> living on a prayer. You think it's going to go back to G, but it doesn't. And not only does it not go to G, it goes It goes to B flat. All right?

[00:11:17]So, we were we were in G, we're going to jump up a minor third to B flat. [music] So, that's exciting. But then they take out one beat, so there's like a measure of three instead of a measure of four.

[00:11:28]So, you get there one beat early, and it's just fantastic. So, YOU LIVE FOR THE >> [music] >> YOU LIVE FOR THE [singing and music] FIGHT WHEN THAT'S all that you've got.

[00:11:45]So, you know, you go 1 2 3 4 [music] 1 2 3.

[00:11:50]We're halfway there. So, So, this is some great ideas, I think, for modulations. There's plenty of other modulation ideas. You can modulate down sometimes. I think there's a Whitney Houston Oh, yeah. How will I know by Whitney Houston is a song that modulates down. However, her her voice kind of goes up on it, so it makes it sound like it's going up. So, if you want to check out another interesting modulation, How Will I Know by Whitney Houston.

[00:12:21]All right, I hope you found these modulations to be inspiring, especially if you're writing a song or arranging a song. And until next time, take care everyone.

[00:12:31]Happy practicing, and I'll see you again real soon.