"Truckdriver" Modulations...

[ZenG]

Cheap trick...or legit?

 

[mambo4]

Never heard the term but one definition I googled:

Truck-driver modulation
A truckdriver modulation is a direct modulation that moves from the old key (usually the tonic
chord) to the dominant chord of the new key to prepare that tonic arrival, again common in pop
music. The idea behind the name (coined by Walter Everett) is that the music loses energy
briefly while in "neutral" (the new key dominant) before moving to a higher state of energy (the
new-key tonic, a step above the old-key tonic). A truck-driver modulation is notated like a direct
modulation.
Billy Ocean's "Get Outta My Dreams" contains a classic truck-driver modulation.

so, basically : change keys up a step, via the dominant of the new key.
Other definitions seem to be simply changing keys up a step or a half step.

As to legit vs cheap trick: It's in the execution

If it sounds legit, it is legit.
If it sounds like a cheap trick, it is a cheap trick.

 

[Bob_Ross]

If it sounds legit, it is legit.
If it sounds like a cheap trick, it is a cheap trick.

I'd say that applies to any modulations. ::eyebrows::

fwiw, I too had never heard of the term "truck driver modulation" either...but that description mambo4 cited sounds vaguely familiar, so I suspect it's simply known by different names depending on what musical circles one travels in. E.g., I know a lot of musicians who refer to a "direct modulation" (or what I was taught is called a "direct modulation") as a "Barry Manilow Chord Change". Seriously, people somewhere are being taught that as a legit academic term! But then again, why not? It makes sense and is easy to remember.

And speaking of "cheap tricks", I used to work with a musician who was lobbying hard for "gratuitous modulation" to become a legit musical term!

 

[RustyAxe]

Common in classic country music. If done poorly it sounds like a train wreck about to take place. I like the definition posted above. For example, let's look at a C major to D major modulation. One way I'd do it is just walk it down from the tonic C major to the dominant of the D, which is A7 (and it's here that is seems to lose energy, as in the definition above). On bass, C-B-Bb-A ... which then resolves to the new tonic, D (where it regains the energy).

 

[MalcolmAmos]

In the world I walk around in about the only time we change keys in the middle of a song is done at the start of a verse or chorus, and we just, start the new verse or chorus in the new key.

Offered for what it's worth....

 

[mambo4]

I prefer the term "Python Modulation"

 

[Whousedtoplay]

Cheap trick...or legit?

Shoot, I've been using that chromatic modulation (usually) with the help of a Dominant (Secondary) chord for decades but I've never even thought how "legit" it was...

 

[LiquidMidnight]

I know a lot of musicians who refer to a "direct modulation" (or what I was taught is called a "direct modulation") as a "Barry Manilow Chord Change". Seriously, people somewhere are being taught that as a legit academic term!

That reminds me of my "the blues scale is not really a proper scale in tertian harmony terms!" rant that I go off on every now and then. Basically, anytime someone is learning guitar or bass, someone teaches them the minor pentatonic scale and then teaches them the "blues scale" as if it's a completely new and different scale. I don't really consider it a scale in reference to tertian harmony, since the b5 cannot be harmonized to its own relative third. My larger point though: Academically (and my occasional rant about the "blues scale" is purely academic and really doesn't matter in the real world of playing music), people are being taught some musical stuff that's probably a bit dumbed down. Now get off my lawn!

As far as modulations, I agree that regardless of what type of modulation, it can be awesome or cheesy. A modulation can really elevate a composition or be pointless and steer the listener in the wrong direction. I recall playing bass in the pit orchestra of my high school production of Grease years ago, and I always thought the half-step modulation during the introduction of We Go Together was a simple yet highly effective modulation.