Modulation

In music, modulation is the change from one tonality to another. This may or may not be accompanied by a change in key signature. Modulations articulate or create the structure or form of many pieces, as well as add interest.

Treatment of a non-tonic chord as a temporary tonic, for less than a phrase, is considered tonicization.
Modulation is the essential part of the art.
Without it there is little music, for a piece derives its true beauty not from the large number of fixed modes which it embraces but rather from the subtle fabric of its modulation.

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Source: Wikipedia · Image: Wikimedia Commons · Public domain

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