How to Change Key Like John Williams

[@aikifab]

How does John Williams modulate? Level 1: he changes key

[@RyanLeach]

lol that sums it up

[@JJBerthume]

lmao

[@JJBerthume]

Fantastic, thank you!

[@JJBerthume]

Borrowing deceptive cadences is one of my favorite harmonic moves; I use it alllll the time

[@1hotday1]

Wow. That octatonic scale with the last note being out of the octatonic scale is neat. Thanks Ryan, another awesome video.

[@johnmcallistermusic]

Again Ryan, where were you 25 years ago when I had to figure out all of this myself 😅 ... young and upcoming composers have it so easy these days.

[@johnmcallistermusic]

**wearing out the rewind key on my portable cd player

[@Pheonix8877]

So freaking true. Even when I started in 2010, sure there was material on the internet but nothing quite like these videos today. They get into the real minutia you’re looking for when you’ve already learned basic music theory

[@timparetti1944]

The first example (Db to C) is missing

[@jakegearhart]

0:54 I think the B at the end of the 9/8 measure should be considered to be implying a G chord. If there were any harmony, I doubt he would be staying on Am there.

[@paulytheking7365]

My favorite key change of his is in Close Encounters when he just plays the five of the next key right before the change.

[@PerchHunter]

May i ask for track name with time signature ?

[@zazenbo]

Thanks Ryan. Been in a bit of a brain fog, just mashing random chords on my keyboard today and needed some inspiration for what direction to take today!

[@rodterrell304]

Once again, nice analysis, Ryan. thanks

[@BrianMagnan]

I love the abrupt key change. The minor third change was something I figured out on my own. Lots of J-pop uses this very effectively.

[@matthewjohnson320]

The first level seems to be just a half step difference between keys. I feel vindicated 😅

[@DevonVanNote]

John Williams is a master at this. Great lesson thank you Ryan!

[@daviydviljoen9318]

I've seen John Williams do some pretty interesting things, at least when I find scores online. There's lots of stuff I'd just straight up steal. I mean, he can write some brilliant counterpoint!

[@Horrorlover65681]

What are those interesting things?

[@daviydviljoen9318]

@Horrorlover65681 In across the Stars, he uses a Neoplitan chord as a pivot chord to modulate from one key to another. That's just one thing I can remember right now on the spot.

[@coldcopy4607]

A minor to C major isn't a key change, you are moving from the relative minor to the tonic.

[@RyanLeach]

Tonal center is A, then tonal center is C. How is that not a change of tonality?

[@joesu4777]

Great video, as always! Any video you make on John Williams is an instant like for me ;) I have a question, however: In level 3: Are you saying that the last F chord in the excerpt is the "deceptive" part of the cadence? To me it seems like you're implying that the key was in A minor (that way the last F chord is the vi), but I'm not really sure how you can establish that with that B major chord (tritone of F). Also, in 0:53 of this video, you show the A minor to C minor example, but you said the modulation was from Db Major to C Major. Could you maybe show which part of Harry's Wondrous World has this Db-C Major modulation? Just as a bonus, here's my favorite transition by John Williams from "Suite from Close Encounters of the Third Kind" it's just simply mind-blowing to me: starting from here kzbin.info/www/bejne/nmHCkpd_mdCGhdE all the way to around 12:55, where he gets from C major to G# minor (?). I'm not entirely sure which category this one falls into, it seems to be either in the "pivot chord" or "harmony" category.

[@richardmaia8732]

NEW RYAN LEACH VIDEOOOO ヤッたー

[@mikrokosmiko1]

Suprising

[@paulobrienmus]

HI Ryan, I really enjoyed this video. Thank you. Could please I ask about the equipment you have on the desk in front of you there, I recognise the stream deck (do you use it with notation software?) Thanks a million.🙂

[@stoatsnhoney]

I've noticed that Williams' modulations are often to the key one semitone below the current one. For instance in Rey's theme he goes from Bb minor to B minor. I wonder if there's a specific reason for that.

[@daviydviljoen9318]

@@stoatsnhoney He's a skilled Jazz pianist, they do things like that all the time. I think it's because it's just very easy to play that type of modulation, but I'm not a skilled jazz pianist, so I wouldn't know if that's correct.

[@robindewhurst4932]

@.56 it's not going for Db Major to C major but from Am to C....

[@RyanLeach]

Yea misspoke, sorry

[@maxxkarma]

No examples are not always clear. Maybe even wrong. The walk up at 2:45 is from Amin to Cmaj. You say it is Cmin, but it is not. The sheet music labels Cmaj. This is not much of a modulation in my opinion. Otherwise…..good stuff.

[@TheREALSmaug]

Can you recommend a software which is free or cheap which has nice sound and doesn’t require and extensions for orchestration and easy to use

[@aikifab]

@@TheREALSmaug Musescore

[@Lufade]

I don't know if I've clicked a video upload notification that fast before!

[@danielc6991]

Going from A minor to C major in your first example is not a modulation. Relative minor back to major key is not a modulation

[@RyanLeach]

But A is the tonal center, and then C is the tonal center.

[@danielc6991]

@ but no key change. Both keys have no accidentals in the key

[@danielc6991]

I agree change of tonal centre but technically there is no actual change of ‘key’ in terms of what key the piece is.

[@LukaMagda1]

​@@danielc6991But of course there is. First you're in a minor and then you are in C major. Those are two different keys. They are close but not same.

[@danielc6991]

@@LukaMagda1 a change of key but not a change of key signature I guess