Award Sounds

I've written about starting in a new key and also about change in the process of composition before. In this article I want to bring the two together and discuss changing keys within a song.

1. Adding a level of excitement
2. Changing the mood
3. Bring the song's key to match the range of notes and timbre achievable from available instruments

I'm undecided whether (1) is just a subset of (2). But it happens so often, I may as well treat it separately.

I'm against the idea of changing key within a song when it's used solely to fill-out the song and prolong the end. If that's the only reason, then don't bother, it smacks of a lack of creativity.

But back to the two or three good reasons.

Excitement

A common technique is to raise the key by a tone or semitone immediately after a chorus, bringing in the new verse in the new key. This is the most common usage within pop/rock music. You can hear it in a lot of songs where the last verse and chorus are up one a key from previous. Sometimes it's just the chorus that's repeated in the higher key.
Taking it a step further, you can change the key several times in the same song. But beware, it can get tiring. At some point is has to end.

One good example is the Snake by Al Wilson. Listen after the chorus for the descending riff that leads into the new key for the following verse. In this case, the song itself is good enough not to need the key changes, but they do add to the experience when you listen to the story. Better still if you're dancing to it.

For a whole load of great examples, listen to the soundtrack for the musical Hairspray. Better still watch the Hairspray DVD. What I've noticed is that the DVD sounds better than the soundtrack CD but I don't know why, possibly just the dynamic compression and how the vocals are clearer in the DVD. That may just be a matter of being able to watch the lips as well. I've yet to listen to the DVD without watching it to test that possibility. Several songs in that movie have key changes, one of them towards the end has several. It almost becomes a game of "spot the key change" every minute or so.

For a more common example, listen to virtually anything by Westlife. Note when they stand up from their chairs and do the arms-wide-open thing? That's usually the key change. It's pure emotional manipulation but it works for them. I don't like that type of key change. The song should have ended some time before the key change, but I'll say it again, it works for them.

Mood Change

You don't have to add a key change solely by going up a semitone or two. You can go down by the same amount or more although that's a lot rarer. You can also change between major to minor keys. Common is the change between a minor to a major key showing the journey the composer wants to take you on, sometimes reflecting the achievement of the main actor or the success of the story. This is the tonal modulation and doesn't require that you change the key, but change the tonal centre instead. Rather than go into this here, there are some good online sources of musical theory, specifically about modulation:

• Harmony.org
• Theory on the web
• Wikipedia
• Howmusicreallyworks.com
• AndyMilne

To include other instruments

Each acoustic instrument has a restricted range. That means if you want to use a trumpet, then you're stuck with the notes that can be played on a trumpet, otherwise it's not a trumpet. Good samplers will restrict the range so you don't go beyond the range of the sampled instrument. They should also allow you to deviate and play the trumpet sounds at a different pitch beyond which the trumpet can physically do. It won't sound exactly like a trumpet (mind you, neither do a lot of sampled trumpets anyway) and you can't play it with a trumpet, but you have the artistic license to play as you see fit.