To Bernhard, regarding a comment in a post

[chopinfan_22]

I was reading one of your posts in this thread: https://www.pianostreet.com/smf/index.php/topic,2429.msg21061.html .

Look at reply no. 10, in regarding scales, learning them, and what's most important when learning/practicing scales. What really caught my attention was this paragraph.

7.      Therefore, if you want to practise scales, have as your aim to learn the scales (meaning: the notes of the scales; identifying immediately the tonic, the dominant, the subdominant and the submediant which are the most important degrees). You want to be able to immediately bring to mind these things the moment someone say the name of a scale. Someone says Ab major. Can you tell immediately all the notes of the scale [Ab, Bb, C, Db, Eb, F, G, Ab]? The key signature (Bb, Eb, Ab, Db)? The tonic? [Ab]. The dominant? [Eb] The subdominant? [Db] The submediant? [F] The leading note? [G] Can you tell immediately that the most likely modulations in a piece written in Ab major will be to Eb major, Db major, F minor, C minor and Bb minor? Can you do that for all the 24 major and minor scales without a moment’s hesitation? Because this is the stuff that really matters. I have seen people ripple scales trough the keyboard and being unable even to tell me the name of the scale. This is the equivalent of being the fastest typist in the universe, but who cannot read, so everything s/he types is gibberish (but fast, very fast).

And this is my question. You (Bernhard) ask, "Can you tell immediately that the most likely modulations in a piece written in Ab major will be to Eb major, Db major, F minor, C minor and Bb minor?"

How can you tell/know the modulations that will take place in a given key? How can one learn that?


Thanks.

[sarahlein]

I'm not Bernhard, so you can ignore my post if you like or read on 

The home key in this case is Ab major
The common modulations can be among others the Dominant (Eb major) or the Subdominant (Db major)
The composer might also use the relative minor scales of the above so,
F minor (relative of the tonic)
C minor (relative of the Dominant)
Bb minor (relative of the Subdominant)

But like I said, I'm not Bernhard so...

[chopinfan_22]

Thank you. I didn't necessarily need Bernhard for that I guess, but anyone who could explain that to me. Since he made the post, I figured he could, but thank you!

[bernhard]

Yes, Sarahlein is correct. The usual modulations are to the dominant subdominant and their relative minors as well as the relative minor of the tonic key.

Of course, composers can and do modulate to all sorts of other keys. But these are the usual ones in 90% of tonal music (and 47% of all statistics are made up on the spot )

But why? Why should these keys be the usual ones?

Very simple: because they display the highest number of common notes. Take C major for instance. A minor, its relative minor, will have exactly the same notes as C major in its "natural" form (or if you prefer the Aeolian mode). No other scale will be "closer" to C major then A minor. The next scale that will have most of the notes in common with C major is G major - the scale built on the dominant note of C major. It has all the notes of C major, except for the F#. Equally close is F major - the scale built on the subdominant of C major: only the Bb is different. And of course, the relative minors of these two scales will also be very close to C major.

All these "family" relationships should be the target of scale practice, and not simply dexterity training. It is in the understanding of these relationships that the meaning of music will eventually be found.

Best wishes,
Bernhard.