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I accidentally wrote a melody where the key changes from D minor t... https://www.reddit.com/r/musictheory/comments/12aoqxa/i_accidenta...
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 Posted by u/NXHthemusician 4 days ago


227I accidentally wrote a melody where the key changes from D
 minor to A major and it sounded really pretty
Question
Any good advice for key changes in general and specifically in this case???
 53 Comments  Share  91% Upvoted
What are your thoughts?
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-Animus · 4 days ago
Yeah, I mean that this prolly can be interpreted as the Dominant in D Harmonic
Minor and that is why it sounds so good. (I think!)
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IDDQDArya · 4 days ago
Yep you are. It's a very...jazzy practice to key change to the dominant of your
home key. Also works with V/V which in this case would be Emaj, which is the V
of Amaj, which is the V of Dmin
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1 of 14 4/7/2023, 7:37 AM
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u38cg2 · 4 days ago r/musictheory   App In 
The way I think about it (as a trad musician) is that you have basically four kinds of
key change: around the circle of fifths, step change, modal shift, or modal change.
So circle of fifths is, say, A major to D major. Step change is D major to E major (or E
to D). Modal shift is major to relative minor (or some other mode, if that's your
thing). Modal change is retaining the same tonic, but changing the scale (A minor
to A major, say).
The thing is, though, you can stack these changes. For example, you might be in A
major, and switch to B minor (via D major by the circle of fifths). Or drop from G
major to E major (via the relative E minor).
Stacking like this can give you dramatic and interesting key changes that still sound
related and maintain some sort of sonic integrity. I'm sure there's a more
systematic way to thinking about it but I find this useful.
thomasthexanman · 3 days ago
that's really interesting! I didn't think about mixing around key changes like that
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majohland · 2 days ago
Can you explain me why you can change of A major to B minor? And why G
major to E major? How can that happen?

astinad · 4 days ago
My advice would be use your ears and let them guide you more so than theory.
Especially when you're composing, and you're figuring out key ingredients like
melody and chord progression - let your ears guide you! You can analyze and throw
the music theory book at it when you're editing your composition, but don't let
music theory get in the way of creativity or discovery! Cheers
JohnnyRoastbeeff · 3 days ago
I've been playing guitar for 8 months and I really really love music theory... This
was great to hear. Noticed I was getting hung up on theory and not just
listening first then decode it.
2 of 14 4/7/2023, 7:37 AM
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lennon1230 · 3 days agor/musictheory   App In 
I've seen a lot of people who delve into theory as a way of trying to understand
music to such a degree that THEN they'll be able to write interesting music, but
that's not how it works. Theory was created to describe music that already
existed, and the more intuitive you can be in the writing process, the better off
you are. Theory is tremendously helpful when you're stuck or to broaden your
ideas, but it's never a substitute for just writing and experimenting with your
ear!
Wish I heard advice like yours more often on this sub.

CyprusZion · 4 days ago
Could you give us the chords?
Erialcel2 · 4 days ago
I'm interested in the melody, since that determines whether you changed key, or
only changed chord. If you really did change key, and it sounded pretty, I'd be very
interested!
TatManTat · 4 days ago
Could you expand slightly on what might determine a key change as opposed to
simply a chord change where it might not be obvious? Or is this one of those
basic questions that is obvious if I was aware of another concept?
I know the answer is "context" like everything just looking for a bit more info
about what that context might look like.

dulcetcigarettes · 4 days ago
Any good advice for key changes in general
Yeah, modulate a fifth or a fourth up/down and then back. Path of least resistance,
use the same progression if you want to, ez
specifically in this case???
3 of 14 4/7/2023, 7:37 AM
What is "this case"? I mean, you haven't whatGet

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TrillionDeTurtle · 4 days ago
D to A is a dominant so it should work, i did a modulation from D minor to A minor

on my GCSE composition I’ve just completed and can say it sounds good- although
changing from minor to the dominant in major theoretically sounds jarring I’m sure
u made it work
Lovefool1 · 4 days ago
Try playing Amajor, B minor, C# minor, D major, D minor 6 back to A major
negligent_filth · 3 days ago
I’ve heard the minor 4-major 1 (D minor-A major) referred to as ‘the money change.’
It’s truly beautiful.
As far as key changes, you can never go wrong by thinking of the chord function of
a 2-5-1. I won’t go too deep into it, but it’s worth looking into. You can justify any
chord by playing its subdominant, then the dominant and then finally the chord you
were hoping to land on. Small example: If I’m in D minor and I want to be in E major
I can set the table for it by playing F# minor, then B7 (or even regular B) and then
land on E. Makes basically any key change sit right with the ears. Works best with
7th chords on everything , but works just fine otherwise.
Cheers to your new discovery and the many more to come!
Fat_tata · 3 days ago
Now that you’ve done the i-V, do the VI(maj 7) back to the V.
treehouse4life · 4 days ago
Turns out minor I to a V sounds good, lol
NXHthemusician OP · 4 days ago
4 of 14 4/7/2023, 7:37 AM
Music sheet that I converted from midi. Just started making music thisGet
year so Log
plz
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don't judge too much
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Rasie1 · 4 days ago
midi would be ten times convenient, I'd put that into daw and listen to it
TrillionDeTurtle · 4 days ago
Some odd rests going on with that chord
WTFaulknerinCA · 3 days ago
Yeah. Pity Bach didn’t think of it. /s
ZZ9ZA · 3 days ago
After (briefly) looking at the sheet music, I don't think the 2nd part is in A Major, but
C# Locrian... most of your G's are nat, not sharp, and C# seems to be more
common to start a phrase.
Gekuro · 3 days ago
Its useful to look at thr circle of fifths, you will see on it that D and A are right next
to each other, generally the closer the keys are on the circle the better they go with
each other.
The keys themselves dont mean anything but the relationship between them
makes modulations feel a certain way, I recommend you print out the circle of fifths
(or draw it) and experiment with different modulations. You will learn a lot :)
MewsikMaker · 4 days ago
Interesting. I’ve never accidentally written anything. But you’re the composer. You
get to do what you want to do.
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readevius1274 · 4 days agor/musictheory   App In 
4th down. Not a bad idea.
SoManyMinutes · 4 days ago
Post the melody.
Lolmcswagger · 4 days ago
Depends on the context, but for most quickly and painless applications I usually like
key changes that provide a lot of harmonic contrast but allow me to set up a chord
progression back to one, or at least use voice leading to go to a dominant function.
For example, tonicizing the bVI (Bb Major in the key of D Minor/Major) gives me the
ability to resolve down to V - I with some voice leading very easily. Tritones away
from the tonic also work well for the same reasons.
tigers4eva · 3 days ago
It probably goes by the same rules as a ivminor chord to the I. (Guitarist here who
can't read sheet music).
The sense of gravity you feel in moving keys from V to I arises out of the movement
of the #4 to the 4 in scale degrees(relative to the home key). There is a resolution of
tension.
In the movement of iv to I, you have a similar gravitational shift, with the scale
degree of #5 moving to 5 in the home key. If the iv minor key is melodic/Dorian
/Ionian in structure, you wind up with additional gravitational movements.
aleksfadini · 3 days ago
D minor 6 to A major is the plagal cadence (minor variant).
No surprise there!
m2thek · 3 days ago
Generally, easy key changes are ones that are 1 accidental away (like C -> G),
6 of 14 4/7/2023, 7:37 AM
minor/major to its relative opposite (like Dmin -> Fmaj), or minor/major

Getto its tonic
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opposite  -> Dmaj).r/musictheory   App In 
In your case, Amaj is 4 accidentals away from Dmin, but A is also the dominant of D,
so they are more strongly related than just the accidental-distance. You can also see
that if you hop from Dmin -> Dmaj -> Amaj, then it's not really a stretch in terms of a
key change.
Ptakub2 · 3 days ago
People say it's Im-V, but I say it might as well be the beautiful IVm-I. r/minor4
representing
locri · 3 days ago
My advice would be to form the harmony from whatever motivated you to write,
where if your motivation was a melody then plan for specific harmonic points
across it as well as across all of its development.
Also, use cadences. Yes, even within the piece.
global_erosion · 3 days ago
You should share it.
Reeqw · 3 days ago
I threw it all away by Bob Dylan has an A major to D minor, which sounds cool
kamekat · 3 days ago
I mastered diatonic and modal chord progressions only to say fuck it and just pick
random chords out of a hat. But it's still very helpful to have learned the theory for
solos and overall songwriting.
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Posted by u/Dark_Hero123 1 day ago


7 of 14 4/7/2023, 7:37 AM
242 Analysis The 2-5-1 progression is basically two 5-1 progressions

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 Example:
Dm7 - G7 - Cmaj7
D is the 5th of G
G is the 5th of C
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190 Discussion I fell in love with the minor 9th dissonance.
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8 of 14 4/7/2023, 7:37 AM
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Posted by u/Her_NameIsALICE 7 days ago


111 Discussion With the help of this sub, here’s my in depth analysis of Jason
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here’s the video
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Cacophony (this is where he was modulating like crazy, Neapolitan chords, and non
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Perpetual Burn (some really weird chord extensions, and smooth voice leading for
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
78 How to write first inversion II 7th chord with roman numerals
Analysis
 when it functions as IV?

In the circled measure the harmony is the first inversion of the 7th chord of II; however, in
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Screenshot: https://imgur.com/a/75RuK8T
Thank you.
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Posted by u/Lasidar 3 days ago

68 How to get better at translating a emotional idea into a chord
Question
 progression?
I feel like I have a basic but decent grasp of the fundamentals of how to write chord
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using things like secondary dominants and cadences. However, when I sit down to write a
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Does anyone else struggle with this? How did you improve?
Posted by u/AlchemyStash 7 days ago


66 QuestionIs there a term for borrowing chords from the parallel key of
 the relative key?
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myself a little, but it's quick: I like researching things and it's helpful to know what the
correct term is when doing so. No matter what I put in when I was trying to google what I
was thinking of when describing planing and constant structure harmony, I literally not
one time had a result that used those terms.
Here's the actual post:
I like borrowed chords. Having ideas of where to pull from really helps me out when it
comes to songwriting. I feel like the most common / first one we all learn when we're
talking about borrowing chords is borrowing from the parallel key:
Key of A Minor, borrowing chords from A Major
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I accidentally wrote a melody where the key changes from D minor t... https://www.reddit.com/r/musictheory/comments/12aoqxa/i_accidenta...

 Posted by u/NXHthemusician 4 days ago

 53 Comments  Share  91% Upvoted

What are your thoughts?

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-Animus · 4 days ago

 131   Reply Share 

IDDQDArya · 4 days ago

thomasthexanman · 3 days ago

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majohland · 2 days ago

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astinad · 4 days ago

JohnnyRoastbeeff · 3 days ago

8  Reply Share 

Wish I heard advice like yours more often on this sub.

4  Reply Share 

CyprusZion · 4 days ago

Could you give us the chords?

Erialcel2 · 4 days ago

7  Reply Share 

TatManTat · 4 days ago

1  Reply Share 

dulcetcigarettes · 4 days ago

Any good advice for key changes in general

speciﬁcally in this case???

What is "this case"? I mean, you haven't whatGet

D to A is a dominant so it should work, i did a modulation from D minor to A minor

3  Reply Share 

Lovefool1 · 4 days ago

Try playing Amajor, B minor, C# minor, D major, D minor 6 back to A major

2  Reply Share 

negligent_ﬁlth · 3 days ago

Cheers to your new discovery and the many more to come!

2  Reply Share 

Fat_tata · 3 days ago

2  Reply Share 

treehouse4life · 4 days ago

Turns out minor I to a V sounds good, lol

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NXHthemusician OP · 4 days ago

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1  Reply Share 

TrillionDeTurtle · 4 days ago

Some odd rests going on with that chord

0  Reply Share 

WTFaulknerinCA · 3 days ago

Yeah. Pity Bach didn’t think of it. /s

0  Reply Share 

ZZ9ZA · 3 days ago

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Gekuro · 3 days ago

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MewsikMaker · 4 days ago

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SoManyMinutes · 4 days ago

Post the melody.

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Lolmcswagger · 4 days ago

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tigers4eva · 3 days ago

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aleksfadini · 3 days ago