Is it musically feasible to modulate from F Major to D Major?

Question

I'm doing an arrangement of "O Little Town of Bethlehem" for a vocal quartet and piano at church. It has been about 35 years since I had a music theory class. I want to do two verses in F then transition into D Major for a verse of another hymn then maybe finish in G. Dropping to D minor would be perfectly rational, but I am going to D Major by changing the last melodic note of the second verse from am F to an F# and building a D Major chord around that. It's abrupt, but I like the sound. From there a perfect 4th up to G for the last verse of the original hymn (not sure if I can pull off the voicing and keep my first tenor as a friend, but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it). Can I musically justify this progression or do I need to go pull out my old copy of Walter Piston's "Harmony" and study the rules again?

btw, this arrangement is due tomorrow (Sunday Nov 10) at 4 PM so I am on a real time crunch here. Any help is highly appreciated.

btw, this arrangement is due tomorrow (Sunday Nov 10) at 4 PM so I am on a real time crunch here.  Any help is highly appreciated.

trweiss · Accepted Answer

If it sounds good to you, that's probably all the justification you really need, right?

If you want it to sound less abrupt than F to D, you can slow walk it with a progression like this: F Am G D. Or you can try F Gdim D. The G diminished is close to G minor, which occurs in F major, but has the leading tone for D major (C#) in it, too.

Anonymous · Answer

The circle of 5ths has nothing to do with changing from D major to C major. I would just go directly from C major to D major. I don't know of any subtle way to do it. You could go from D to G then to C.

Is it musically feasible to modulate from F Major to D Major?

Related Questions

Trending Questions