Improvisation 1. Scale Degrees major / minor (natural / harmonic / melodic) 2. Chord Qualities 3.

Chord Scales / Diatonic Chords

4.

5.

Primary Chords I Tonic IV subdominant V dominant Secondary chords VI submediant II supertonic III mediant VII subtonic / leading tone (note)

Substituted chords = chords with 2 or more common tones 7. Fundamental chord = chords in root position 8. Inverted chord = chords inversion / inverted position 9. Chord Tones 10. Non Chord Tones (Decoration / Embellishment) Diatonic / Chromatic passing tone(s)
6.

auxiliary (neighbor tone) Unaccented - - - - - - - - - - neighbor group (changing tones) escape tone (echap) Accented - - - - - - - - - - --appoggiatura anticipation retardation suspension

11.

Altered chords are altered to

= 7th chords which some chord tones upper/ lower pitches by half steps to change their color or functions
(An altered chord is a diatonic triad or seventh chord that has had one or more pitches lowered or raised by a half step. By lowering or raising (altering) the chord tone you change the character and color of the chord. Depending on what pitches you change, you can even change its function.)1

14.

Chord Progression opening (approach- - - - preparation chord cadence) Pedal point th Circle of 5 13. Keys (key center / home key) Major / minor Tonicization (key of the moment) = the treatment of a pitch other than the overall tonic as a temporary tonic in a composition. Tonicization is achieved through the use of the scale and harmonies of the tonicized key. How to:
12.

o leading tones, o dominant tonic chord progressions o combination (of leading tones + dominant-tonic chord
progressions) Tonicized chord is a chord to which a secondary dominant progresses - relate to the key of the chord which follows (key of the moment) but do not effect a modulation.

The most common method of tonicization uses

15. Modulation If a chord is treated as the tonic for longer than a phrase then the treatment is considered a modulation. th Closely related key (by the circle of 5 / relative key) Remote/distant key o Parallel key o Third relation o Step

How to: o Direct modulation (clear cut) o (using) Pivot chord (= common chord modulation / diatonic pivot chord modulation) th o (using) Dominant 7 chord (& various alteration of dom. 7th) 16. Musical Devices Sequences: Imitation real Repetition tonal Sequences - - - - - - - > modified Canon false Inversion modulating (in circle of Retrogradation 5th) Diminution rising (ascending) Augmentation falling(descending) 17. Phrasing pulse accented & unaccented beats cell motive / figure phrase passage (=paragraph) section movement piece Regular / irregular phrasing Beginning o Harmonic - tonic chord / approach chord o Accent - on the 1st beat / anacrusis (upbeat / pickup notes) Ending o Harmonic - cadences (perfect / imperfect/ plagal/ interrupted) o Accent - feminine ending / masculine ending - long note / rest / pause / hold / link (bridge) 18. Structure / Form Introduction Link / transition / bridge Coda Basic forms o Sectional form o Rounded binary o (Simple) Binary form form o Compound binary form o (simple) Ternary o Compound ternary form form o Rondo form o Variations o Strophic form

19. Other elements Time Rhythm Dynamics Reference:

Articulations Ornaments

http://audio.tutsplus.com/tutorials/music-theory/guitar-chords-piano-1/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musical_form http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_chord_(music) http://www.tpub.com/harmony/37.htm http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tonicization

Musical form
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Thought-form of the Music of Gounod, according to Annie Besant and C.W. Leadbeater inThought Forms (1901)

The term musical form refers to the overall structure or plan of a piece of music,[1] and it describes the layout of a composition as divided into sections.[2] In the tenth edition of The Oxford Companion to Music, Percy Scholes defines musical form as "a series of strategies designed to find a successful mean between the opposite extremes of unrelieved repetition and unrelieved alteration."[3] Musicologist Richard Middleton describes form through repetition and difference: difference is the distance moved from a repeat; a repeat being the smallest difference. Difference is quantitative and qualitative; how far different and what type of difference. According to Middleton, musical form is "the shape or structure of the work." In many cases, form depends on statement and restatement, unity and variety, contrast and connection.[4]

Levels of organization
The founding level of musical form can be divided into two parts: The arrangement of the pulse into accented and unaccented beats, the cells of a measure that, when harmonized, may give rise to a motif or figure. The further organization of such a measure, by repetition and variation, into a true musical phrase having a definite rhythm and duration that may be implied in melody and harmony, defined, for example, by a long final note and a breathing space. This "phrase" may be regarded as the fundamental formal unit of music: it may be broken down into measures of two or three beats, but its distinctive nature will then be lost. Even at this level, the importance of the principles of repetition and contrast, weak and strong, climax and repose, can be seen.[5] (See also: Meter (music)) Thus, form may be understood on three levels of organization. For the purpose of this exposition, these levels can be roughly designated as passage, piece, and cycle.

Passage
The smallest level of construction concerns the way musical phrases are organized into musical sentences and "paragraphs" such as theverse of a song. This may be compared to, and is often decided by, the verse-form or meter of the words or the steps of a dance.[citation needed] For example, the twelve bar blues is a specific verse form, while common meter is found in many hymns and ballads and, again, the Elizabethan galliard, like many dances, requires a certain rhythm, pace and length of melody to fit its repeating pattern of steps. Simpler styles of music may be more or less wholly defined at this level of form, which therefore does not differ greatly from the loose sense first mentioned and which may carry with it rhythmic, harmonic, timbral, occasional and melodic conventions. In the analysis of musical form, any components that can be defined on the time axis (such as sections and units) are conventionally designated by letters. Upper-case letters are used for the most fundamental, while lowercase letters are used for sub-divisions. If one such section returns in a varied or modified form, a numerical digit or an appropriate number of prime symbols appears after the letter. Even at this simplest level, there are patterns that may be re-used on larger time-scales. For example: The following verse is composed of two differently-rhymed couplets (AABB), and thus its organization is binary or "twofold". Twinkle, twinkle, little star, How I wonder what you are. Up above the world so high, like a diamond in the sky. However, in the verse below, there is a rhyme repeated in the second line, then a variant in the third line, two halflines sharing a new rhyme, followed by a final return to the first arrangement in the last line (AABA), and thus its organization is ternary form or "threefold". There once was a fellow from Leeds Who swallowed a packet of seeds. In less than an hour he burst into flower And he died trying to pull up the weeds. However, as music educator Stewart Macpherson stated, there is a preference at all levels of musical organization for groupings of two, four, eight over other divisions, so that even a ternary form is often extended by repetition of the first subject into a "fourfold" structure. Composers can be on guard against excessive "squareness".[6]

Piece
The next level concerns the entire structure of any single self-contained musical piece. If the hymn, ballad, blues or dance alluded to above simply repeats the same musical material indefinitely then the piece is said to be in strophic form overall. If it repeats with distinct, sustained changes each time, for instance in setting, ornamentation or instrumentation, then the piece is a theme and variations. If two distinctly different themes are alternated indefinitely, as in a song alternating verse and chorus or in the alternating slow and fast sections of the Hungarian czardas, then this gives rise to a simple binary form. If the theme is played (perhaps twice), then a new theme is introduced, the piece then closing with a return to the first theme, we have a simple ternary form. Great confusion, argument and misunderstanding can be generated by such terms as 'ternary' and 'binary', as a complex piece may have elements of both at different organizational levels.[citation needed] A minuet, like any Baroque dance, generally had simple binary structure (AABB), however, this was frequently extended by the introduction of another minuet arranged for solo instruments (called the trio), after which the first was repeated again and the piece endedthis is a ternary formABA: the piece is binary on the lower compositional level but ternary on the higher. Organisational levels are not clearly and universally defined in western musicology, while words like "section" and "passage" are used at different levels by different scholars whose definitions, as Scholes and others[who?] point out, cannot keep pace with the myriad innovations and variations devised by musicians.

Cycle
The grandest level of organization may be referred to as "cyclical form". It concerns the arrangement of several self-contained pieces into a large-scale composition. For example, a set of songs with a related theme may be presented as a song-cycle, whereas a set of Baroque dances were presented as a suite. The opera and ballet may organize song and dance into even larger forms. This level of musical form, though it again applies and gives rise to different genres, takes more account of the methods of musical organisation used. For example: asymphony, a concerto and a sonata differ in scale and aim, yet generally resemble one another in the manner of their organization. The individual pieces which make up the larger form may be called movements.

Single forms
Scholes suggested that European classical music had only six stand-alone forms: simple binary, simple ternary, compound binary, rondo, air with variations, and fugue. However, musicologist Alfred Mann, emphasized that the fugue is primarily a method of composition that has sometimes taken on certain structural conventions.[7] Where a piece cannot readily be broken down into sectional units (though it might borrow some form from a poem, story or programme), it is said to be through-composed. Such is often the case with pieces named Fantasia, Prelude, Rhapsody, Etude or study, Symphonic poem,Bagatelle, Impromptu, etc.[citation needed] Professor Charles Keil classified forms and formal detail as "sectional, developmental, or variational."[8]

Sectional form
Main article: Sectional form This form is built from a sequence of clear-cut units[9] that may be referred to by letters as outlined above but also often have generic names such as Introduction and Coda, Exposition, Development and recapitulation, verse, chorus or refrain, and bridge. Introductions and codas, when they are no more than that, are frequently excluded from formal analysis. All such units may typically be eight measures long. Sectional forms include:

Strophic form
Main article: Strophic form This form is defined by its "unrelieved repetition" (AAAA...). Medley, potpourri or Chain form: this is the opposite extreme of "unrelieved variation": it is simply an indefinite sequence of self-contained sections (ABCD...), sometimes with repeats (AABBCCDD...). Orchestral overtures are sometimes no more than a string of the best tunes of the show to come, such as in Johann Strauss' Blue Danube waltz, which ends with a reprise of the main theme ((intro)ABCD...A1(coda)).

Binary form
Main article: Binary form This form uses two sections (AB...); each section is often repeated (AABB...). In 18th-century western classical music, "simple binary" form was often used for dances and carried with it the convention that the two sections should be in different musical keys but maintain the same rhythm, duration and tone. The alternation of two tunes gives enough variety to permit a dance to be extended for as long as may be required.

Ternary form
Main article: Ternary form This form has three parts. In Western classical music a simple ternary form has a third section that is a recapitulation of the first (ABA). Often, the first section is repeated (AABA). This approach was popular in the 18th-century operatic aria,[citation needed] and was called da capo (i.e. "repeat from the top") form. Later, it gave rise to the 32-bar song, with the B section then often referred to as the "middle eight". A song has more need than a dance of a self-contained form with a beginning and an end.

Rondo form
Main article: Rondo form This form has a recurring theme alternating with different (usually contrasting) sections called "episodes". It may be asymmetrical (ABACADAEA) or symmetrical (ABACABAC). A recurring section, especially the main theme, is sometimes more thoroughly varied, or else one episode may be a "development" of it. A similar arrangement is the ritornello form of the Baroque concerto grosso. Arch form (ABCBA) resembles a symmetrical rondo without intermediate repetitions of the main theme.

Variational form
Main article: Variation (music) Variational forms are those in which variation is an important formative element. Theme and Variations: a theme, which in itself can be of any shorter form (binary, ternary, etc.), forms the only "section" and is repeated indefinitely (as in strophic form) but is varied each time (AA1A2A3A4A5A6), so as to make a sort of sectional chain form. An important variant of this, much used in 17th-century British music and in the Passacaglia and Chaconne, was that of the ground bass - a repeating bass theme or basso ostinato over and around which the rest of the structure unfolds, often, but not always, spinning polyphonic or contrapuntal threads, or improvising divisions and descants. This is said by Scholes (1977) to be the form par excellence of unaccompanied or accompanied solo instrumental music. The Rondo is often found with sections varied (AA1BA2CA3BA4) or (ABA1CA2B1A).

Developmental form
Main article: Musical development Developmental forms are built directly from smaller units, such as motifs, combined and worked out in different ways, perhaps having a symmetrical or arch-like underpinning and a progressive development from beginning to end. By far the most important in Western classical music is;

Sonata form
Main article: Sonata form This form, also known as sonata allegro form, first movement form, compound binary, ternary and a variety of other names,[example needed]developed from the binary-formed dance movement described above but is almost always cast in a greater ternary form having the nominal subdivisions of Exposition, Development and Recapitulation. Usually, but not always, the "A" parts (Exposition and Recapitulation, respectively) may be subdivided into two or three themes or theme groups which are taken asunder and recombined to form the "B" part (theDevelopment) - thus e. g. (AabB[dev. of a and/or b]A1ab1+coda). This developmental form is generally confined to certain sections of the piece, as to the middle section of the first movement of a sonata, though nineteenth-century composers such as Berlioz, Liszt and Wagner made valiant efforts to derive large-scale works purely or mainly from the motif. Chester (1970) distinguished this as "extensional music", that "produced by starting with small components - rhythmic or melodic motifs, perhaps - and then 'developing' these through techniques of modification and combination." "Intensional music", meanwhile, "starts with a framework - a chord sequence, a melodic outline, a rhythmic pattern - and then extends itself by repeating the framework with perpetually varied inflections to the details filling it in."

Cyclical forms
Opera was originally modelled upon classical drama and takes much of its form from its libretto and narrative. For many years, ballet was a component of opera, not in itself narrative, but having the form of a suite of set dances included at some appropriate moment in the story such as a festival or wedding. It emerged as a separate form, supplying its own narrative or representation, during the 19th-century.[citation needed] At the same time, the song cycle emerged, which is a set of related songs (as the suite is a set of related dances). The oratorio took shape as a narrative, often religious,[citation needed] recountedrather than actedby the singers. The sonata, symphony, and concerto were all developed by the great composers of the Viennese school (Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven) along the same formal lines into distinctively musical forms limited little by the forms of song, dance or ceremony. Other forms of music, such as the Catholic mass and requiem, are largely shaped by and subordinated to their texts and ceremonial functions.

More recent developments

A common idea is the depth of layers of form necessary for complexity, in which foregrounded detail events occur against a more structural background, as in Schenkerian analysis.[citation needed] Composer and music theorist Professor Fred Lerdahl, among others,[who else?] argues that popular music lacks the structural complexity of multiple structural layers and thus lacks depth.[10] However, Lerdahl's theories explicitly exclude associational details which are used to help articulate form in popular music; the theories of which are analyzed in music theorist and musicologist Allen Forte's book, The Structure of Atonal Music.[11] Western classical music is the apodigm of the extensional form of musical construction. Theme and variations, counterpoint, tonality (as used in classical composition) are all devices that build diachronically and synchronically outwards from basic musical atoms. The complex is created by combination of the simple, which remains discrete and unchanged in the complex unity...If those critics who maintain the greater complexity of classical music specified that they had in mind this extensionaldevelopment, they would be quite correct...Rock however follows, like many nonEuropean musics, the path of intensional development. In this mode of construction, the basic musical units (played/sung notes) are not combined through space and time as simple elements into complex structures. The simple entity is that constituted by the parameters of melody, harmony, and beat, while the complex is built up by modulation of the basic notes, and by inflexion of the basic beat. All existing genres and sub-types of the Afro-American tradition show various forms of combined intensional and extensional development. Chester 1970, p.78-9 Similarly, Middleton maintains that "syntactic music" is centered on notation and "the hierarchic organization of quasilinguistic elements and their putting together (com-position) in line with systems of norms, expectations, surprises, tensions and resolutions. The resulting aesthetic is one of 'embodied meaning.'" on the other hand, non-notated music and performance "foreground process and are concerned with gesture, physical feel, the immediate moment, improvisation; the resulting aesthetic is one of 'engendered feeling' and is unsuited to the application of 'syntactic' criteria."

Connection and contrast may be achieved in new ways. Procedures of connection include: gradation, amalgamation, and dissolution. Procedures of contrast include: stratification, juxtaposition, and interpolation. Especially recently,[as of?] more segmented approaches have been taken through the use of stratification, superimposition, juxtaposition, interpolation, and other interruptions and simultaneities. Examples include the postmodern "block" technique used by composers such asJohn Zorn, where rather than organic development, one follows separate units in various combinations. These techniques may be used to create contrast to the point of disjointed chaotic textures, or, through repetition and return and transitional procedures such as dissolution, amalgamation, and gradation, may create connectedness and unity. Composers have also made more use of open forms such as produced by aleatoric devices and other chance procedures, improvisation, and some processes.

References
1.
^ Schmidt-Jones, Catherine (11 March 2011). "Form in Music". Connexions. Retrieved 11 September 2011. 2. ^ Brandt, Anthony (11 January 2007). "Musical Form". Connexions. Retrieved 11 September 2011. 3. ^ Scholes, Percy A. (1977). "Form". The Oxford Companion to Music (10 ed.). Oxford University Press. 4. ^ Middleton, Richard (1999). "Form". In Horner, Bruce; Swiss, Thomas. Key Terms in Popular Music and Culture. Malden, Massachusetts:Blackwell Publishing. ISBN 0-631-21263-9. 5. ^ Macpherson, Stewart (1930). "Form". Form in Music (New and Revised ed.). London: Joseph Williams. 6. ^ Macpherson, Stewart (1930). "Form". Form in Music (New and Revised ed.). London: Joseph Williams. 7. ^ Mann, Alfred (1958). The Study of Fugue. W.W.Norton and Co. Inc.. 8. ^ Keil, Charles (1966). Urban blues. ISBN 0226429601. 9. ^ Wennerstrom, Mary (1975). "Form in Twentieth Century Music". In Wittlich, Gary. Aspects of Twentieth-Century Music. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall. ISBN 0-13-049346-5. 10. ^ Lerdahl, Fred (1992). "Cognitive Constraints on Compositional Systems". Contemporary Music Review 6 (2): 97121. 11. ^ Forte, Allen (1973). The Structure of Atonal Music. New Haven: Yale University Press. ISBN 9780300021202.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musical_form

Musical Modulation - - What is it?

Key Center. First let me introduce the concept of a key center. The key center in music is a tone that usually sounds in the bass part at the beginning and the end of a piece of music. It serves as a foundation. This foundation note has various names: the tonic, the keynote. In a major key it is "do" of the familiar do-re-mi. In a minor key, the foundation note is "la." The tonic may appear as the first note of the melody. If not, then the first note of the melody will usually be a major third or perfect fifth above the key center. (mi or so in a major key) The first chord of a piece usually has the same name as the key center. The first melody note will often be one of the tones of this chord. The chord and the key center are also referred to as "I" or tonic. The I chord (or tonic chord) is made up of do, mi, and so. The syllable do is the first tone of the major scale. Mi is the third; so is the fifth.. The tones do mi and so help to establish the key center. So modulation in music is the changing of a key center. For example, if a piece of music may start out in the key of A major, but then modulate,

say, to C major. This means that the tonal center of the piece has changed from A to C. (Note: if I don't say "major" or "minor," you can assume I mean "major" in this series of lessons.) Consider the syllables: do - re - mi - fa- so"? These are the first 5 tone of the key (or scale). In the key of A, do=A. In the key of C, do=C. Often a composer will indicate a new key signature to show that a modulation has taken place. But sometimes the composer will not change the key signature (especially if the modulation is temporary) but will show the modulation with accidentals. Why modulation in music is useful. Modulation is useful because it gives music a fresh sound. Every key center has a unique quality. Some think that keys with sharps in the key signature seem to have a brighter feel. And keys with flats seem to be more mellow. Even if you transpose the music exactly into a new key, you have introduced an element of variety. At the same time you have unity, because of the repetition of the melody, rhythm, and functional chords. (Note that when you repeat music in a new key, the chord letter names have changed, but the functional names of the chords have not changed. A I chord is still a I chord in the new key. Classical composers often followed a formula where a piece of music had three sections, named like this: I. Exposition II. Development III. Recapitulation The Exposition would, itself, be broken up into 2 parts. The first part of the Exposition would be in the original key. The second half of the Exposition would move to a new key, often the key of dominant chord. The Development section would modulate to various keys as it developed the ideas in the Exposition. A modulation would then occur back to the original key upon the start of the Recapitulation. The Recapitulation section would repeat the Exposition (sometimes with slight variations) but this time the second part of the Exposition would stay in the original key instead of modulating away from it. By not modulating away in the Recaptulation, the composers helped to keep the sense of the original key and to bring the piece (or "movement") to a strong conclusion. As a rule of thumb, if a piece modulates away from the original key, it will usually return to that key by the end of the tune.

How to Modulate in Music

Modulation usually involves the use of the dominant chord. Before I go into that, I will review all the main chords in a major key. If you already know this, you can skip ahead to Modulating with the Dominant Chord.

There are 7 main scale steps or tones in a key. They are sometimes called do-re-mi-fa-so-la-ti or they are just given numbers: 1-2-3-4-5-6-7. We can build a chord on each of these scale steps. For now, I'll just talk about triads, which are three-note chords. This table shows the seven triads in the key of C. Notice that I am showing the functional names, letter names and chord tones for each triad..

Main Triads in the Key of C Major

Scale Step Letter Name Functional Name Chord Tones Chord Type Major

tonic

1-3-5 do-mi-so
2-4-6 re-fa-la 3-5-7 mi-so-ti 4-6-1 fa-la-do 5-7-2 so-ti-re 6-1-3 la-do-mi 7-2-4 ti-re-fa

supertonic

Minor

mediant

Minor

subdominant

Major

dominant

Major

submediant

Minor

leading tone

Diminishe d

Only one thing changes about the chord facts when a key changes. The only thing that changes is the letter name of each chord. For example, look at these 7 chords in the key of A major.

Triads in the Key of A Major

Scale Step Letter Name Functional Name Chord Tones Chord Type Major

tonic

1-3-5 do-mi-so
2-4-6 re-fa-la 3-5-7 mi-so-ti 4-6-1 fa-la-do 5-7-2 so-ti-re 6-1-3 la-do-mi 7-2-4 ti-re-fa

supertonic

Minor

C#

mediant

Minor

subdominant

Major

dominant

Major

F#

submediant

Minor

G#

leading tone

Diminishe d

Fill in the blank. When a key center changes, the letter names ______________ (change/do not change). But the functional names ______________(change/do not change). In the key of A major, the functional name for the I chord is ___________. The letter name for the I chord in the key of A major is ____: ----------------------

When a key center changes, the letter names do not change. But the functional names change. In the key of A major, the functional name for the I chord is tonic. The letter name for the I chord in the key of A major is "A." Modulating with the Dominant Chord. You can always modulate to a new key simply by introducing the dominant chord (V chord) of the new key and then the I chord of the new key. For example, if you are modulating to the key of G, you would sound a D chord and then a G chord. To make the modulation more convincing, you can use a dominant-seventh chord (V7) instead of just a dominant triad. In other words, you would sound a D7 chord. You might also use various alterations of the dominant chord (to be discussed in a future lesson.) A dominant triad has just 3 tone; a dominant-seventh chord has four tones. The fourth tone is a minor 7th above the root of the chord. The V7 chord for G is D7 (the tones are: D, F#, A, C) The "C" is the 7th of the chord. A V7 chord in a major key is always made up of the tones so, ti, re, fa (scale steps 5, 7 2, 4). (If you are having difficulty understanding dominant seventh chords, you may want to see Chapter 8 in What Makes Music Work which has a more detailed explanation. Although you can always modulate in this way, if you want a smooth modulation it helps to make sure that the chord that comes just before the V7 chord belongs to both keys. This chord is called the "pivot" chord since it helps in helps in smoothly pivoting from the original key to the new one. An example will help to make this clear. Suppose you are in the key of D and you want to modulate to A. This modulation is easy since D is both the I chord in D and the IV chord in A. So to modulate to A you could use the chords D - E7 - A. The table below shows how D is both the I chord in D and the IV chord in A.
D Key of D Key of A IV I V E7 A I

The D chord uses do, mi, so in the key of D and fa, la, do in the key of A. Progress check: which chord above is a pivot chord? ------

The pivot chord is D since it appears in both keys.

You can often get a smooth modulation without thinking much about pivot chords. Just try ii-V-Iin the new key and see if it sounds good. For example, if you are in D and you want to go to G, you could try the chords D Am, D7 G. If you analyze it will find
D Key of D Key of A IV I Am v ii E7 V A I

Notice that Am is analyzed as being "v". This lowercase "v" shows that the chord is built on the fifth degree of the key and that it is a minor chord. The Am chord doesn't occur in the key of Amajor, but it does occur in the key of A minor. When using a chord as a pivot chord, it is fine if it belongs to either the major or the parallel minor version of the key center. If you try ii - V - I in the new key and it doesn't sound quite right, that's when it is time to insert a pivot chord to smooth out the modulation. For example suppose you are in the Key of C and you want to modulateo to B. You might try: C - C#m -F#7 - B This is not so smooth since the C#m chord does not exist in C major or C minor. Although this progression is possible, a smoother progression would be: C - Em- F#7 - B See if you can analyze it and identify the pivot chord. (Fill out the colored parts of the table)
C Key of C Key of B Emi F#7 B

Check your answer below:------------------------------

C Key of C Key of B I

Em iii

F#7 -

B -

iv

V7

The Em chord is the pivot chord since it exists in both keys. Notice that Em is borrowed from B minor. Strictly speaking, B Major does not have a E minor chord, but as I pointed out earlier, it is common practice to borrow chords from the parallel minor key. Subdominant based modulation. Another technique is to base modulation around the subdominant chord. The idea is to use iv of the original key as the pivot chord when modulating to a key with more flats or fewer sharps. Note that iv, here, designates a minor chord (since it written with lowercase letters.). If you are in a major key, you can still use iv; you are just borrowing the iv from the parallel minor scale. For example, when modulating from C to E-flat, you would use Fm as the pivot chord. The progression might be: C - Fm - B-flat7 - E-flat Fill in the blank. Fm is the pivot chord because Fm is iv (minor subdominant) in the original key, but in the new key of E-flat it is ________. ------------------In the new key, Fm is ii. This happens to give a nice ii-V7-I in the new key. But suppose you are modulating in the other direction. That is, you are modulating to a key with more sharps (or fewer flats)? When modulating to a new with more sharps or fewer flats, use the IV or iv chord of the new key as the pivot chord. Let's try C to E. C has no sharps. E has 4 sharps. What chords would you use? What would the pivot chord be? Since you are modulating to a key with more sharps, you would use the subdominant of E as the pivot chord.

Fill out the table below:

C Key of C Key of E

Check your answer below: ----------------C Key of C Key of E I Am vi iv B7 V E I

Half-step Up. Popular music sometimes jumps up to a key a half-step higher than the original key when repeating. This is done without any attempt at a smooth modulation. As a general rule, chord changes involving a half-step movement produce a good effect. (Other examples involving half-step changes are the Neopolitan, German, Italian and French 6th chords -- to be discussed in a future lesson.) Suppose a tune in the key of E comes to the end of section. You want to repeat everything exactly but in a higher key for a brighter effect. You could suddenly switch to the key of ________ (fill in the blank) -------------------You could jump to the key of F.

Dramatic Modulations. You can often achieve a dramatic modulations by using an "usual" 6th chord as a pivot chord. Unusual 6th chords are the Neopolitan 6th, French 6th, German 6th and Italian 6th chords. I'll discuss these chords in a future lesson. To whet your appetite, here is an example: To modulate from C to B major. C - C/E - F# - B NOTE: C/E means C chord with E in the bass part. C/E is tonic in the key of C, but a Neopolitan 6th in the key of B Major. This finishes this lesson on modulation. One last progress check Fill in each blank with either the word unity or variety. . Modulation is one of the powerful techniques for adding _____ to music while still preserving _____. -------Answer: modulation gives variety while preserving unity. Suggested activities: compose a tune that modulates in the middle section. Use pivot chords. Modulate back to the original key at the end of the piece. Find some pieces or songs that use modulation.Analyze the modulation and find out what chord is used as the pivot chord.
http://www.lovemusiclovedance.com/modulation.htm

Sequences
A real sequence is a sequence where the subsequent segments are exact transpositions of the first segment. A tonal sequence is a sequence where the subsequent segments are diatonic transpositions of the first segments. A modified sequence is a sequence where the subsequent segments are decorated or embellished so as to not destroy the character of the original segment. A false sequence is a literal repetition of the beginning of a figure and stating the rest in sequence.[1] A modulating sequence is a sequence that leads from one tonal center to the next, with each segment technically being in a different key in some sequences.[2] A sequence can be described according to its direction (ascending or descending in pitch) and its adherence to the diatonic scalethat is, the sequence is diatonic if the pitches remain within the scale, or chromatic (or non-diatonic) if pitches outside of the diatonic scale are used and especially if all pitches are shifted by exactly the same interval (i.e., they are transposed). The non-diatonic sequence tends to modulateto a new tonality or to cause temporarily tonicisation.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sequence_(music)