Modulation (music)
![Common-chord modulation in the opening of Chopin's Prelude in C minor, Op. 28, No. 20.[4] Play](/uploads/202501/09/Chopin_-_Prelude_in_C_minor_opening_modulation0135.png)
![Modulation from D major to D♭ major in Schubert's Op. 9, No. 14, D. 365, mm. 17-24, using the German sixth, in the new key, that is enharmonic to the dominant seventh in the old key.[5] Play](/uploads/202501/09/Schubert_-_op.9_D.365,_mm.17-24_German_sixth_modulation0135.png)
![Modulation between relative keys, C minor and E♭ major, using a common-tone, G, in Schubert's Op. 163 (D. 956).[8] Play](/uploads/202501/09/Schubert_-_Op.163_(D.956),_i_common-tone_modulation0135.png)
![Chromatic modulation in Bach's Du grosser Schmerzensmann, BWV 300, m. 5-6[10] ( Play with half cadence, Play with PAC) transitions from FM to dm through the inflection of C♮ to C♯ between the second and third chords. Note that there is no common chord.](/uploads/202501/09/Chromatic_modulation_in_Bach_BWV_300,_m._5-60135.png)
In music, modulation is most commonly the act or process of changing from one key (tonic, or tonal center) 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 chord as the tonic for less than a phrase is considered tonicization.