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Modulation: Music
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In more general terms, modulation means moving from one maqam to another compatible one. There are well-established maqam combinations that sound very pleasant and are learned through experience. The musician can carry on transitioning from one maqam to the next, but usually returns to the starting maqam unless the purpose of the modulation was to end up on a new maqam. In a complex improvisation, the musician can modulate over half a dozen or more maqamat.
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Phrase (... called direct or abrupt) modulation is a modulation in which one phrase ends with a cadence in the original key, and begins the next phrase in the destination key without any transition material linking the two keys. This type of modulation is frequently done to a closely related key -- particularly the dominant or the relative major/minor key. A common device in popular music, the "truck driver's gear change" or "Star Search modulation," is an abrupt modulation, usually to the key a semitone above, typically used to provide an "emotionally uplifting" finale.
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An intermediate modulation comes within a section. It often arises in a passage containing several modulations – the opening of the second half of a binary form movement, or the development section in sonata form. It coincides with a phrase ending, though the music may not come to a complete stop, especially in Baroque music
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A modulation to the subdominant (4th note of the scale) is ... common (e.g. from C major to Fmajor). Music often modulates to the relative minor (e.g. C major to A minor).
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Though modulation generally refers to changes of key, any parameter may be modulated, particularly in music of the 20th and 21st century. Metric modulation (known ... as tempo modulation) is the most common, while timbral modulation (gradual changes in tone color), and spatial modulation (changing the location from which sound occurs) are also used.
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