Death of the key change?

[pocket_groover]

I found this article quite interesting. Some of his observations are tendencies that I do see over time. I started playing in the 60s and am familiar with most music of the 50s and love big band 40s stuff so in my early days of playing I became familiar with the usual key changes. I love some of the new stuff that comes out these days but do see the tendency to not do key changes in the songs. Hope it's interesting to some of you folks.

How the Billboard Hot 100 Lost Interest in the Key Change

BTW, I think the author is a bass player.

 

[Michedelic]

That was fading away in the 50's as the "Your Hit Parade" type adult pop(informed by Tin Pan Alley and Big Band)gave way to Rock'n'Roll. It was always a device to create excitement and combat monotony in the instrumental music that was in vogue in those days as well…from Mantovani to Percy Faith, but with Elvis, and certainly in the post-Beatles landscape, it was discarded. In fact, it really stuck out in Who songs, as it was almost over-used by Townshend. Still, by the end of the 60's, it would pop up from time to time; the Hawaii 5-0 Theme by The Ventures(again, an instrumental)had two upward key changes, for example. I just look at it as an arrangement technique that became passe' over time.

 

[silky smoove]

I just look at it as an arrangement technique that became passe' over time.

Agreed. For me it's so passe that I audibly groan when it happens in pop tunes most of the time.

 

[5andFretless]

By key change, are we discussing modulation? I've never heard a modulation called a key change (although it is)

If so, it's still in lots of songs.

 

[J Wilson]

I backed gospel quartets for a while, and key changes were real common as you passed the melody like a forward lateral from the baritone to the tenor or other moves. And no you don't see it much any more.

So ProTools and the other production software suites don't have a 'global transpose' button where you wouldn't have to sing the key change either? Wow, maybe I could make a killing on a plug-in . . . .

 

[JRA]

IMO, key changes/"modulations" are useful if you know what you're doing as an arranger. i agree they can be cheap and/or cheapened in some situations. but i think some arrangements are cheap whether they have key changes or not, and many tunes might be 'uplifted' by better arrangements.

IME, key changes aren't dead in my world, but the old-timey trick of throwing one in, in the last chorus, has become less compelling...most of the time. some of it, as mentioned, is genre related.

 

[Bob_Ross]

For me it's so passe that I audibly groan when it happens in pop tunes most of the time.

I had a roommate when I was an undergrad in music school who would always ask me "can you get your professors to explain what a Gratuitous Modulation is?"

 

[silky smoove]

I had a roommate when I was an undergrad in music school who would always ask me "can you get your professors to explain what a Gratuitous Modulation is?"

This falls in line with the whole "clap for the keep change" thing you see at concerts.

 

[mike buzzetti]

mOTOWN +1/2 step all day

 

[Jared Houseman]

Most of the time when I use a key change, its not used to build a song up. For me a key changed is usually used to provide a jarring jolt to the listeners

 

[SkylineFiver]

It was all downhill from here:

 

[Gravedigger Dav]

it is still around. I hear is some in country, but it isn't as popular as it once was.
Modulation doesn't bother me, but what makes me teeth hurt is listening to the late 50s doo wap where everything was triplets 1 triplet per beat.

 

[Jeff Hughes]

I like a key change that sneaks up on the listener in that a new chord progression leads you there without it being obvious. I have done these in some of my original projects.

 

[pocket_groover]

It was all downhill from here:

Haha! I knew the song title would be this as soon as I saw Sergio Mendes in your post. I recently transcribed this and said to myself "Damn that's a lot of changes".
Check these comments out:
Is "Never Gonna Let You Go" really "The Most COMPLEX Pop Song of All Time"?

 

[SkylineFiver]

Y

Haha! I knew the song title would be this as soon as I saw Sergio Mendes in your post. I recently transcribed this and said to myself "Damn that's a lot of changes".
Check these comments out:
Is "Never Gonna Let You Go" really "The Most COMPLEX Pop Song of All Time"?

That's the video that brought it to my attention. It's funny how he and his friend thought they could do it no problem until they started trying to play it.

 

[FilterFunk]

For me, the master of the key change is Stevie Wonder. I love the joyous, powerful way his voice soars when changing keys, especially during the latter part of his songs. Check out "Golden Lady" (starting at 3:31), "Summer Soft" (starting at 2:12) and "Overjoyed" (starting at 2:46) to hear examples of what I mean.




And I love the key changes in "Ribbon In The Sky":

 

[consectaneus]

These days I come across them in choir music. Our church only puts a choir together for special services on Christmas and Easter, so there is one coming up. The selections are pretty contemporary. I am hard pressed to look back and think of a single number that did not modulate. So in that world of music at least I think I can say that the key change is alive and well.

 

[Bob_Ross]

I like a key change that sneaks up on the listener in that a new chord progression leads you there without it being obvious. I have done these in some of my original projects.

+1
I composed a chamber music quintet for winds & strings back when I was in grad school that was almost like the antithesis of a "sonic barber pole" in that over the course of ~20 or 30-something measures the piece wound its way back to the beginning...only now it was a half-step higher. Each time. So you never really noticed the modulation [sic], the piece just kept getting a bit more strident with each iteration due to pushing the various instruments' tessituras.
I oughtta revisit that piece and try to rearrange it as a Billboard Top 100 Hit

 

[kesslari]

The article is worth a read, in that there's some interesting data analysis and thought beyond "key changes are cool" or "key changes are uncool".

 

[consectaneus]

IME, key changes aren't dead in my world, but the old-timey trick of throwing one in, in the last chorus, has become less compelling...most of the time. some of it, as mentioned, is genre related.

Even before I knew what a modulation or key change was, and just listening to the radio a lot, I noticed Barry Manilow did that. He still stands out in my mind as the biggest offender. It's a cliche to me now. "Oh Mandy, you came and you gave...", or, "I made it through the rain..."

I just started calling it "crescendos" which maybe isn't correct. I think it has to do with perceiving a slight accompanying slowing of the tempo. Maybe there actually is a slight increase in volume and change in orchestration. Maybe a loud drum fill right before the last chorus/modulation. Ugh. Whatever it is, it bashes the listener over the head with, "here's the big wind-up". That whole thing is so corny in those instances (to me).