Change Key - Musical Creativity 26

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.

I like the idea of changing key within a song for a few reasons:

Adding a level of excitement
Changing the mood
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:

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.

But assuming you want realistic instruments and accurate recordings, then sometimes you have to change the key to include certain instruments in the registers that sound right. I'm not convinced changing key solely for this purpose is beneficial, but I can see places where it could be. I actually have a piece at the moment that I'd like to include the lower notes of the trumpet, but not any other brass. I just can't find a tone and balance that I'm happy with for trombone, tuba, horns. I'm pretty sure it's a trumpet I need, but to do so I think I'm going to have to change the key to suit. In my particular case, I may to change the key for the whole song.

Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose

So what do you do in the new key? The easy option is to play what you've already played but in the notes of the new key. It's a coward's way out and on its own isn't really creative. However as a lot of pop bands have shown, it's a comfortable experience on your listener.

More interesting is to use the key change to successfully introduce a new theme or convey a different mood. It's more difficult, requires being more creative, but does mean that you'll be giving the audience something more than just slightly altering what you've already done.

And then where?

It doesn't have to end on the second key or even a steady upwards staircase of keys. Take some time to think about moving back and finishing the song in the original key, using the key changes as modulation within the song.

How to achieve the key changes

Rather than re-recording parts just to see if it will work, most full-featured DAWs have a couple of options. Transposing midi is usually easy, just copy the part to a new part (or region) and either drag all the notes up or down or use the transpose setting for that part. Some allow you to change key within the midi programming environment.

For audio parts, you can try the DAW's internal pitch change processing on the new part. If it works and you want to keep it, you've can listen attentively for artefacts and realism so you can decide if the processed file will do or if you need to re-record it. I prefer to record the new part afresh but it's not always possible, e.g. if I don't play that instrument or don't have access to the same exact instrument, signal chain and acoustic space.

A few things to watch out for when changing the key in either of the above ways:

1) You should be making changes only to new parts, just make sure you're not changing the pitch of your old parts.

2) If you're changing between major and minor keys, then watch for the harmonic content. Better pitch shifting routines (whether midi or audio) should allow you to state the new key and scale.

3) Ensure that the pitch correction routine is for musical content, some of the pitch change, time-stretching have specific algorithms for percussion. So choose the one most appropriate to your content.

An easy way

Try the dominant seventh approach detailed at guitartools.co.uk

Edit

I'd written the above article, then came across this site at GearChange.org. I generally agree with most of the site, especially the Westlife comment in the FAQ. I think saying that it's in "no way inventive, interesting or acceptable" is too broad though. Some of it seems to depend on how you define the truck driver's gear change. Whatever the case, the muso article is a great starting point for examining the concept.

Part of a series by Award Sounds offering a selection of creative ideas to kick-start or rejuvenate a composition.

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