Step

1 - Identifying Modulations

Related Keys
The first thing that you need to do when going through a chorale is to identify the modulations in key. This is an easy
process, as Bach will only tend to go to closely related keys. This means that the only keys you should use are the
Tonic, Relative Major/Minor, the Dominant and Subdominant and their relative Major/Minors.
Remember that in a minor key Bach uses the melodic minor, because whilst we are looking at functional harmony,
and you may imagine this would involve the harmonic minor, we are looking at four separate melody lines. Below are
two examples of key charts that you should write out for any Bach chorale you complete; one is in a major key and one
in a minor key.

Fig 1. Major Chart

Fig 2. Minor Chart

Tonic (C Major)

Subdominant
(F Major)

Rel. Minor (A
Minor)

Rel. Minor (D
Minor)

Tonic (D Minor)
Dominant (G
Major)

Subdominant
(G Minor)

Rel. Minor (E
Minor)

Rel. Major
(Bb Major)

Rel. Major(F
Major)

Dominant (A
Minor)

Rel. Major (C
Major)

When you have written out these diagrams it is also advisable to write out the accidentals that you are looking for to
indicate that the melody line has modulated to another key. For example:

Tonic (C Major)

Subdominant (F Major)
Bb

Rel. Minor (D Minor)

Bb
B and C# if the proceeding
note is higher.

Rel. Minor (A Minor)

F# and G# if the proceeding
note is higher.

Dominant (G Major)
F#

Rel. Minor (E Minor)

F#
C# and D# if the proceeding
note is higher.


Exercise 1
Fill in the following related key diagrams:

Bb Major

F Major

Eb Major

A Major

E Minor

C# Minor

B Minor

F Minor

Identifying Modulations Within Phrases

Whilst this method of working out which key a chorale has modulated to works in most circumstances, there are other
things to take into account when looking at a chorales modulations, especially as certain phrases can appear to be in
many keys. Take the following phrase for example:

This phrase at first glance appears to be in C major. However, because the phrase does not contain any Gs or Fs we
cannot tell if the phrase is in A minor. With this in mind we need to look at the end of the phrase. A majority of the
time in a chorale we are expecting to see the supertonic followed by the tonic at the end of a phrase (2 -1). If the last
two notes do not do this in any of the keys that you are expecting, then check if the last two notes could be from
chords I and V, for example:

There are no accidentals in this example so it appears at first glance to still be in Bb major, however the final cadence could not be the chords F and Bb
as A and C do not appear in the chord of Bb. There are also no Ebs in this example, therefore the phrase could be in either F or Dm, if we check the last
two notes it could still be in either key, as we could put the last two chords as either Am Dm or C F. However, because the 7th would be falling in Dm it
is much more likely to be in F major, as you would expect the leading note to rise at a cadence.

Exercise 2 Study 2
Technical

Write in the most likely key for each phrase in the following chorale exercises:

Add
i) alto, tenor and bass parts to complete the following in the style of J. S. Bach.

(40)

Key:

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$
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$
"
! #
" $

$ $ $
$
$
$$ $ $$

$$ $

&
$
$
$ $ $ $$ %%

$$ $

$
$

$
$

Key:

"

&
%

'#

! #
" $

Key:

"

%%
(

&
$ %

'#

Key:

! "
! #
7

"

# "#

"#

%
$

&"

Key:

! "#
!
9

"

# # #

# #

# # #

&"

! "#
!

Key:

11

"

%
$

# #

# #

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$

&"

ii)

Technical Study 2
Key:
Add alto, tenor
and bass parts to complete the following in the style of J. S. Bach.

(40)

Key:

Key:

Key:
7

Key:
9

Types of Modulation
In a chorale there are three ways by which a modulation can be achieved. The one common type of modulation is
phrase modulation. Phrase modulation is where the chorale has a whole phrase in one key. The next phrase may be in
a different (related) key without any preparation, because the previous phrase ended at the cadence. This type of
modulation is the same as the modulations you identified in the previous exercise. Usually the new phrase will start
with the dominant of the new key to help to reinforce the harmony, although chord I can also be used, but it is not as
strong.
Another common type of modulation is using a pivot chord in the middle of a phrase to change key. A pivot chord is a
chord that is common to both keys. For example if you wanted to modulate from C major to G Major you could use A
minor as a pivot chord, as it is chord vi in C major and chord ii in G major. A pivot chord is usually followed by chord V
of the new key, as this helps to reinforce the harmony.

Some useful pivot chords to know are:
Major Pivot Chords
Subdominant: ii=vi (Dm is ii in C and vi in F)
Relative Minor: ii=iv (Dm is ii in C and iv in Am)
Dominant: vi=ii (Am is vi in C and ii in G)

Minor Pivot Chords

Subdominant: iv=i (Dm is iv in Am and i in Dm)
Relative Major: iv=ii (Dm is iv in Am and ii in C Major)
Dominant: i=iv (Am is i in Am and iv in Em)

The final type of modulation is an abrupt modulation. This type of modulation jumps straight to chord V of a new key
without any pivot chord, and it sounds abrupt! This is the least common of the modulations found in chorales and is
used for effect, usually to reflect the text of the chorale.
Exercise 3
Identify the pivot chords used in the following modulation:

Identify the key changes in the following chorales; can you spot what type of modulation has been used?