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Music Theory for the 21st-Century Classroom

Robert Hutchinson

Section 22.5 How to Recognize a Key After a Modulation

Look for the following cues when examining music containing modulations:
  1. Look for recurring accidentals, then add them to the key signature to determine the new key
    1. Lowered notes (like flats) usually create \(\hat{4} \) (as do the flats in key signatures)
    2. Raised notes (like sharps) often create \(\hat{7} \), the leading tone
      1. If there are multiple raised notes, look for the “sharpest of sharps” (in key signature order) to determine which sharp is acting as \(\hat{7} \)
  2. If accidentals are canceled out, they indicate tonicizations or chromatic non-chord tones
Figure 22.5.1. J.S. Bach, English Suite No. 4 in F Major, BWV 809, Sarabande (ca. 1715)
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