Key change! The thread!

[StatmanCrothers]

hmmm... your pop song needs a little "pep" for the finale? why not a forced key change?

Rant and Rave....

Rant: what songs have you noticed unnecessary, clunky key changes ? i'm talking about the same melody, but taking it "up a notch" to a different (usually higher) musical key.

there are worse examples, but "Hello I Love You" seems to have an odd key change.

Rave: what songs use this effect naturally and effectively? Don't confuse this with an octave shift where you sing a full octave higher or lower over the same chords ("Walk The Line", for example I think does this)

"Fever" comes to mind, if i'm not mistaken i think each verse is step or so higher than the one before.

[Arthur Dent]

Pretty much anything by Neil Diamond.

[StatmanCrothers]

Pretty much anything by Neil Diamond.

i've done "I Am, I Said" at karaoke, and its just an octave shift. but yeah. very dramatic.

when i do that song, i have a chair next to me, and as i sing the line

"i am, i cried, to no one there,
and no one heard at all,
not even the chair..."

i raise the chair up over my head, to a roar from the crowd.

[GatewaySnayke]

Key changes in rock music are just unnecessary.

Bands that use them are probably just trying to make their crappy song sound unique.

[Mary1966]

The Happening by Diana Ross and the Supremes starts out in G and switches to A flat, and has a bunch of chromatic shifts in it. I love the song, but it doesn't work for a violin piece.

[StatmanCrothers]

i found this

Thanks for your question. Key changes usually are most effective in three cases :

1 -- toward the end of a song to make the final repeated part different than the previous parts

2 -- At the bridge, to give it a distinct and different musical identity, then come back to the original key

3 -- In traditional style song where each repeated part (verse/refrain) modulates -- usually up a half step
(eaxample is "In the Year 2525" by Zager and Evans)

Song structure:

The most common are

1 -- ABABAB (a = verse, b = chorus)
2 -- ABABCAB or ABABCB (c = bridge)
3 -- AAA

other parts that can be used are an intro and/or outro (also called a tag) and a climb or pre-chorus (1 -2 lines after the verse that lead into the chorus.

The chorus melody should usally start on a note different than than the verse and the title of the song is usually the first or last line of the chorus (this is the hook), or if the structure is AAA, then the last line of thr section.

Books:

1 -- The craft of lyric writin by Sheila Davis
2 -- The Craft and Business of Songwriting by John Braheny
3 -- Songwriters Idea Book by Sheila davis

Also, if you go to my web site at http://www.billpere.com and click 'Songwriters Tools', you'll have access to all my articles on songwriting. there are a few dealing with structure, and also check the article on 'anatomy of a song'.

Good luck with your music,

...Bill

[StatmanCrothers]

Key changes in rock music are just unnecessary.

Bands that use them are probably just trying to make their crappy song sound unique.

Good example: "Won't Get Fooled Again" by The Who. That Townshend is such a hack.

[AdmiralKird]

It's not a song, but anytime Chris Rock talks I get this sensation.

[ghostrunner]

I'm not even sure what a key change would sound like, but it's probably best that I don't.

I love tempo changes though.

[StatmanCrothers]

I'm not even sure what a key change would sound like, but it's probably best that I don't.

I love tempo changes though.

the easiest way to tell a key change is if, you are singing along, and you are singing the same chorus you sang earlier, but now its harder to sing