Altered And Enharmonic Modulation
ADVERTISEMENT
1music theory for musicians and normal people by toby w. rush
Altered and Enharmonic Modulation
œ œ œ
w w w
œ œ œ
œ œ œ n
& b œ œ œ
Altered common chord modulation
is easy: remember diatonic common
F:
I
IV
V
chord modulation, where we used a
C:
I
V
I
chord that was diatonic in both
the old and new keys?
œ œ
œ œ
& b œ œ œ
œ
œ
w w w n #
altered common chord modulation
œ œ œ # n
#
is the same thing, only using the
pivot chord as an altered chord
in either the old key, the new key,
F:
I
IV
V
or both.
b
E:
VI
V
I
Now, in both diatonic modulation and altered modulation, we have one chord that plays two
different roles, one for each key. But the chord type doesn’t change... if it was a major
chord in the old key, it’s still a major chord in the new key .
...but what if the chord type did change?
...but what if the chord type did change?
this technique is
in enharmonic modulation, we respell a chord
so — well, odd — that
enharmonically so the chord type itself
there are only
is different in the old and new keys.
two specific ways
to do it.
ever notice that the german
fully diminished seventh chords are
augmented sixth chord is just like
cool for a lot of reasons, and one of
a major-minor seventh chord
them is that they are equidistant chords:
with the seventh respelled
b b
w w w
inverting a fully diminshed seventh
#
w w w
enharmonically?
b b
yields another root-position fully
w
w b
&
dimished seventh chord .
∫
w w
w w w
b b
b b
w w
b b
w w
beethoven
w w
w
&
&
&
did!
D : b
7
C:
Ger.6
V
7
6
7
a°
a°
c°
5
we can take advantage of this and use it
meaning that a fully diminished
as a pivot chord... where it acts like a
leading tone seventh chord
german augmented sixth in one key
can be a pivot chord into
7
7
but like a V
(or a V
/x secondary dominant)
three other possible keys:
b b b b b
# œ œ
b
œ œ œ
in the other key!
#
œ œ œ
œ œ œ #
&
œ
&
œ
œ
œ n
œ
œ
œ
œ
which can be
œ
œ
œ n
respelled as
7
7
G: I
vii°
vii°
6
E: vii°
I
œ
5
?
# œ œ
b b b b b
œ
œ n
b
œ œ
œ œ œ
œ n
œ
∫ b
œ
œ œ
b
œ œ
&
œ
œ
œ
b n
œ n
œ
which can be
respelled as
7
7
G: I
vii°
vii°
b
b
4
6
7
D : vii°
I
D :
IV
V
3
# œ œ
œ œ œ n b
b
œ œ œ
œ œ œ
C:
Ger.6
V
I
&
œ
œ b
œ
which can be
note that the pivot chord above is
respelled as
approached like a dominant seventh,
7
7
G: I
vii°
vii°
but resolved like an
b
4
augmented sixth chord!
B : vii°
I
2
licensed under a creative commons BY-NC-ND license - visit for more
ADVERTISEMENT
0 votes
Related Articles
Related forms
Related Categories
Parent category: Education