86 Melodies That Modulate

Melodies and Contexts

In all types of music, tonicizations and modulations occur. A piece of music that only stayed in one key would be very boring! As we advance in melodic dictation, you will learn to identify when a tonicization or modulation is about to happen from chromatic tones in the melodic line. Even when you can only hear the melody and no harmonic parts are present, we can hear an implied harmony because the melodic tones will come from tones of the secondary dominant of the key that is about to be tonicized.

Listen to Schubert’s lied, Todesmusik D. 758.

In this excerpt from Todesmusik below, it is possible to analyze the modulating last phrase as belonging to the home key – F major – or the new key, C major. When you sight-sing an excerpt like this, figure out a judicious place to “pivot” from one key to another. In the excerpt below, it would be better to avoid getting all the way through to fi in the old key, since ti of the new key makes more sense harmonically and is easier to sing. Therefore, one would probably make the switch to the solfege of the new key for at least the last four notes of the excerpt.

Tips for Success

When you write down a melodic dictation, always listen out for chromatic tones that might indicate a shift to a new key. It is particularly useful to listen for ti of the new key, because that indicates a dominant-tonic progression. Always try to locate a pivot – a note that could belong to the key signature of either key – and change your solfege concept to that of the new key from that point onwards.