modulation

Transition where a piece of music shifts between keys

Also known as Modulation (music) · changing keys · key change · key modulation

Instance of: musical technique
Subclass of: change

Overview

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia · Read full article · Text CC BY-SA 4.0

In music, modulation is the change from one tonality to another. This may or may not be accompanied by a change in key signature. Modulations articulate or create the structure or form of many pieces, as well as add interest. Treatment of a non-tonic chord as a temporary 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.

Overview

All data

21 statements · 19% with external sources · numbers in brackets are citations

Different from: music
transposition
modulation
Facet of: tonal system

On other databases

13 identifiers linking modulation across the web's reference databases

Data quality

statements

19%

externally sourced

Source last edited October 4, 2026. AIDB refreshes this page daily.

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AIDB. (2026). modulation (Q750240). Retrieved from https://aidb.si/e/modulation-Q750240