Common Modulations Down a Whole Step

Dr Rob McWilliams takes us through common modulations down a whole step in some of our favourite standards. He also goes through how best to improvise over them as an added bonus!
#jazzharmony #modulation #reharmonisation #jazztutorial #jazzlesson

[@upFamirrorsdowntiisupthenisdow]

What's the strongest way to modulate up a whole tone?

[@JazzMusicInstitute]

Great question! It's less common to see progressions modulating up a whole tone, but the strongest way to modulate would be by using the ii-V of the key a whole tone up. So if you're in C and modulating to D you would go from C Major to Emin7 to A7 to DMaj7. Basically the strongest way to modulate would be through the V chord of the key you're modulating to. Spo in the case of modulating from CMaj7 to DMaj7, using A7 (which is the V of Dmaj) to get to the key up a tone is the strongest choice. You can then use a variety of substitutions, such as a tritone substitution to get more variations of sounds in getting to the modulated key. I hope this helps!

[@JOY-bp6xp]

Great explanation Sir! Would it be possible to make a video on how to modulate up a whole step?

[@JazzMusicInstitute]

Will talk to Dr Rob about it when I see him next! Thanks for the feedback :)