Why Change Key in the Middle of a Song?

[Alan Brookes]

Why do some bands insist on changing the key in the middle of a number? A lot of times they will have changed back to the original key before the song is over, or changed to a third or fourth key.

If you listen to other genres of folk music, a suspense is built up based on a continual drone on the key note. Can you imagine a bagpiper or a flamenco guitarist changing key? When you change key you lose all that continuity and allow the tension to be released.

[Doug Beaumier]

IMO a key change builds excitement and causes the listener take notice. One modulation in a song is enough for me, and not is every song. Jimi Hendrix would change keys for some of his solos, which added even more energy, not that he needed more!

[Joachim Kettner]

I don't know exactly, but I instantly thought of this song:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8UEry2XGszs

[Joachim Kettner]

Jimi Hendrix would change keys for some of his solos, which added even more energy, not that he needed more!

Oh yes!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TvtZuhv0Mzs

[Jeff Garden]

I played in a band where the bandleader referred to key changes as a "cheap gimmick". Having said that, I really enjoy playing an interesting turnaround that eases you into a new key....

[Richard Sinkler]

I think homogenizations, I mean modulations, give a song character. It creates a tension That the rest of the song releases.

[Jim Cohen]

It can add interest. Especially in a song that has no bridge to add interest, where otherwise the song would get to be pretty monotonous. It's not for every song, but, when used judiciously, it can be effective.

[Pete Burak]

I can see clearly now...

[Storm Rosson]

Am I brain dead (again) or isn't a key change same thing as modulation? And if so, I gotta agree that it can build tension(basic sonic theory infers that raising pitch does have more tension elements and conversly lowering back to the original key does tend to infer tension release.Or merely a natural thing to do in a specific melody, and just to make a song more interesting to the band after having played it a coupla hundred times. Just Sayin

[Roual Ranes]

Sometimes for the singer.............then back to original key.

[Jim Cohen]

San Antonio Rose
Faded Love

[Howard Parker]

King Of The Road

[Mike Neer]

It goes back to the big band era. Most of the time the band played a chorus up front in one key, modulated to another for the vocalist, and then to another for the soloist. The arrangements are what kept many of those songs from sounding mundane and elevated them.

[George McLellan]

Gene Watson's Farewell Party is an example of very tasteful modulation (OCOMHO).

Geo

[Dave Harmonson]

I like 'em when appropriate. Detroit City goes down a 4th from E to B. How 'bout Roger Miller's Engine Engine #9? Modulates up 1/2 step but the vocal goes low.

[Les Cargill]

It's possible that a modulation marks a change in mood for a song, but it's frequently just a way to stretch a song that should be ending right about there.


I once played a *cover* song where we added a modulation that was 1) a tritone ( 6 frets down ) and 2) a move to a minor key. That'd wake you right up.

We did a two-measure dim scale walkdown to the new key, too. I think it was D major to G sharp minor, and it only lasted two trips through the chorus.

It was either that or discard the song. This sort of thing gives people the impression you know what you're doing whether you do or not.

All this being said, the modulations in, say "Statue of a Fool" are part of the song, and have a lot of heft to 'em.

[Craig Baker]

Buddy Emmons. . . "Gonna' Build A Mountain" I lost count of how many times he bumps it up.

A lot of people think he plays pretty well.

Craig

[Richard Sinkler]

Some of the best modulations (yes Storm..A key change within a song is a modulation) ever, are in some of the duets by George Jones and Tammy Wynette. Instead of just going up a half or whole step, they will modulate from the 1 chord to a 4 and switch to the new key when the other singer sang their part. So in effect, they will start in the key of G with one of them singing that verse, then possibly a chorus, then when the next verse comes along, thy will modulate to the key of C and the other one will sing. Great stuff.

[Richard Sinkler]

There is an echo in here

[Richard Sinkler]

Oops

[Doug Beaumier]

I Walk the Line
Back in Baby's Arms
Coal Miner's Daughter, etc, etc...

[Peter Freiberger]

An interesting modulation is in Aretha Franklin's "Respect". From the key of C the sax solo is F#m to B7 to F#m then to G, back in the original key of C, although it feels like a modulation.

[Dave Mudgett]

Why modulation? Um ... why did cultures move from agrarian or early-industrial society where one was often born and buried on the same plot of land to the modern transient culture where the concept of 'home' has less and less significance with each passing century or even decade? Sometimes art mimics reality. Sometimes art mimics what people want reality to be. Sometimes people do stuff that they feel like for no particular reason - they just do it. Modulation became an important feature in classical music a long time ago.

To my tastes, sometimes simplicity, as in droning in a home key, is cool, and sometimes complexity is cool. My question is - why would anybody want, or expect that everyone else would want, the same thing all the time - either 'the same' as in monotone, or 'the same' as in 'the same as what I like'.

One of my favorite examples of modulation in a popular song is Bobby Darin's Mack the Knife - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SEllHMWkXEU - I could never think about doing this tune at this point without the modulations. I do have friends who think about modulations as a 'cheap gimmick', but I think that's kind of narrow-minded. Sure, it can be out of place in certain contexts, but it seems like a overly broad brush in general.

[James Jacoby]

Johnny Cash's "Four Feet High, and Rising". One time, our band was playing that song in an open sided pavilion. A thunder storm came up right in the middle of the song. We had a lot of people in the audience, so we kept playing. I just happened to be taping, that day, and when I played it back, later, you could hear the rain falling, and the thunder, right about where water was Two Feet High and Risin. Coolest thing I ever recorded! -Jake-

[Arty Passes]

Oh, you mean change keys on purpose!
Sometimes I get distracted by some goings on in the audience and change keys without the rest of the band!