Modulation (Dover Books on Music) [Paperback]

Max Reger (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 5, 2007 | Series: Dover Books on Music

Modulation — the change from one key to another — is a subject of critical importance to performers and composers in their study of harmony. This concise guide by a progressive early modernist offers valuable insights and instruction. Suitable for musicians at all levels. Newly typeset and engraved.

Product Details

• Paperback: 80 pages
• Publisher: Dover Publications; Dover Ed edition (June 5, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 048645732X
• ISBN-13: 978-0486457321
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.7 x 0.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #115,619 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Strauss Modulation Cookbook, May 8, 2010

By 

Kevin Austin "R R1" (Montreal, Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Modulation (Dover Books on Music) (Paperback)

A good book for understanding a backbone for modulation from any key to any other key, for example, A minor to E# major (11 accidentals away), or Db minor to F# major (14 accidentals) [number 91 in the book].

Built largely around the reinterpretation of bII (Neapolitan sixth), you'll find just about every Strauss modulation that uses this progression. Lots of fun, but not for the neophyte.

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Book, November 13, 2009

By 

Jarvis N. Turner - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Modulation (Dover Books on Music) (Paperback)

It's a simple theory book that shows you the simplest ways to modulate from one key to the other. A great book for those wanting to understand modulation. I recommend anyone wants to understand theory or just want to know how to compose better to get this book. It's great!

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great little book, but . . ., November 24, 2011

By 

Scooter Driver (Kansas City) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Modulation (Dover Books on Music) (Paperback)

Although Max Reger's 100+ examples all end with some flavor of either a V-I or vii-I chord progression, I would classify more than half of them as transitions from one key to another rather than a transition from one key to another with an exclamatory cadential ending. The book is a usable reference, but not for the beginning student of harmony or music theory. Line and smooth harmonic transition in his examples are frequently sacrificed apparently in the interest of brevity.

Despite the negativity of the paragraph above, this little book proved to be a very valuable addition to my reference library, but not in the way I expected it would. I bought the book to use as a quick reference for a modulation while I was composing music, but found that it was far from the cookbook tool I expected. Some of Reger's examples proved to have either a harsh, incomplete, or unconvincing cadential sound, and that spurred me to work to make them less harsh and more complete sounding to the ear with a strong cadential ending.

In those efforts I found the real value in Max Reger's work. I reworked 63 of the 100+ examples to make each smoother, more complete, and/or more convincing, and that's where the real learning took place. I now have a "library" of modulations which I can draw upon whenever I need to. I strongly recommend this book for anyone with an interest in music composition or analysis as a study guide to really teaching yourself all about transitions and modulations. However, I make this recommendation with a strong warning that it is not a cookbook for writing music with smooth, flowing transitions.

Spend the $7 for the book and then use it to teach yourself modulations and transitions by creating your own set of reference modulations based upon Reger's. Be economical and try to improve on an example with as few additional beats as possible. Unless you are a budding Mozart, that process may take a considerable amount of time, but it will be time well spent.