A
AG Beats
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Now when youre saying E[SUP]7[/SUP] you mean the dominant 7 of the e chord right? So E major with a flat 7? Or would that be written as E7 and you just mean add a 7th to e major?
Im curious... If the keys of C and A minor are relative keys and contain the exact same notes and chords, but in a different sequence, Why would you need a chord outside of both keys (E7) to point towards the new relative? I've always modulated to relative major/minor without any borrowed notes/chords..NO!!!!!!
if we are modulating to Am then we need to hear an E major chord at some point resolving to the A minor chord.
Now when you're saying E[SUP]7[/SUP] you mean the dominant 7 of the e chord right? So E major with a flat 7? Or would that be written as E7 and you just mean add a 7th to e major?
A | B | C | D | E | F | G[sup]#[/sup] | A |
1 | 2 | [sup]b[/sup]3 | 4 | 5 | [sup]b[/sup]6 | 7 | 1 |
Im curious... If the keys of C and A minor are relative keys and contain the exact same notes and chords, but in a different sequence, Why would you need a chord outside of both keys (E7) to point towards the new relative? I've always modulated to relative major/minor without any borrowed notes/chords..
Major | C | D | E | F | G | A | B | C | |||||
Rel Nat Minor | A | B | C | D | E | F | G | A | |||||
Rel Harm Minor | A | B | C | D | E | F | G[sup]#[/sup] | A | |||||
Rel Mel Minor Asc | A | B | C | D | E | F[sup]#[/sup] | G[sup]#[/sup] | A |
---------- Post added at 02:39 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:25 PM ----------
Whilst A minor is the relative minor of C major, it has a different scale structure to accommodate it's harmonic language, most specifically that it has a major chord built above the 5th degree of the scale.
Not what Im asking at all. I am quite familiar with harmonic minor (I have an obsession with yngwie malmsteen lol) and not part of my question.The problem with asking about modulation to the minor is that you are almost certainly asking about how do I use the harmonic minor
Your response makes perfect sense nowWhen moving to the natural minor you are applying principles of modal harmony which are very different and outside the scope of the original question.
in terms of transposition there is no place for secondary dominants unless they already exist in the original key; i.e.they aren't used to facilitate a transposition
The normal route is via the V[SUP]7[/SUP] of the new key, which hopefully exists as a chord in the existing key with little modification needed. This is true of my 3rd example where we use C[SUP]7[/SUP] as the penultimate chord, requiring only that we flatten the B to create the dominant 7th chord. V[SUP]7[/SUP] followed by chord I or chord IV contains so much strong information about the new key (1-3-5-7-2-4 or -5-7-2-4-6-1) that we can be confident the new key is established.
That is just me being ultra rigid in presenting all possible versions of the V-I cadence using both major and minor chords. The essence is that we need to hear V[SUP]7[/SUP] - I or V[SUP]7[/SUP] - i to feel confident about the modulation being successfully established.
Generally your pivot chord ends up being either the new I or new IV. E.G. modulating from C to G, you would move something like C-F-C-G-D-G and the function is
C: I-IV-I-V-V-of-V-V
C: I-IV-I G: I-II-I
The pivot is the G chord between the C and D chords so it is acting as both chord V in the old key and chord I in the new key.
So I am going to write out the actual chords so that we can see what is happening:
12
34
1234
12
34
1234
12
34
1234
12
34
12
34
12
34
1234
12
34
1234
12
34
1234
12
34
1234
Am
G
F
Am
G
F
Am
G
F
Am
G
F
E[SUP]7[/SUP]
F
E
Dm
F
E
Dm
F
E
Dm
F
E
Dm
C: vi
V
IV
vi
V
IV
vi
V
IV
vi
V
IV
a: V[SUP]7[/SUP]
[SUP]b[/SUP]VI
V
iv
[SUP]b[/SUP]VI
V
iv
[SUP]b[/SUP]VI
V
iv
[SUP]b[/SUP]VI
V
iv
Which leads us to conclude that both F and E are pivot chords as the F exists in both progressions and the E[SUP]7[/SUP] is used to prepare the shift to the new key. It is interesting to note that in both examples there is no appearance of chord I|i.
This might suggest that the original progression is actually in Am and the modulation has been to Dm via a non key chord E[SUP]7[/SUP]
V[SUP]7[/SUP]-I and vice versa I-V[SUP]7[/SUP] are the two strongest movements within diatonic music - they are the axis around which everything else revolves. I was skim reading a book on Marching band arranging last night (always reading, always learning, always reaffirming past learning) and they emphasised that this (V[SUP]7[/SUP]-I and vice versa I-V[SUP]7[/SUP]) is at the crux of any and all harmonic work and particularly of any modulation attempts.
What matters in the end is that progression works and there is some functional logic behind it - if I|i appears great, but the mere hinting at of I|i with the presence of V|V[SUP]7[/SUP] is enough to carry the progression
If the above progressions were truly in Am and Dm then the first is a modal progression (Aeolian) and the second would also be a modal progression, 4th mode of the harmonic minor of A
It is probably safer to leave themas being in C major and A minor respectively, as the functions are then clearly understood. It is even possible to claim the whole thing is in A minor and simply shifts from the modal Aeolian to the harmonic minor half way through.......