Rondo in D Major

I didn't know that there would be something interesting about this song....until I started playing it. When I got through a couple pages, I realized that the song changed keys a lot. I think that the song has parts in the keys of D major, B minor, A major, G major, F major, D minor, Bb major.........

Most classical songs usually change keys at least once. Usually, they change to the 5th of the key that they start in. In the example above, that would be A major. Other common key changes (which are officially called "modulations") would be to G major, B minor, or D minor in the example above. But you usually don't see this many key modulations in a single song.

This song took 7 pages of sheet music, which was pretty long for me when I first learned it.

Perhaps when Mozart first came up with the idea for this song, he didn't know what it would turn into, so he just put down a little short idea, and then extended it into a rondo by repeating it and changing the key many times.

I've written a couple jazz songs as I said in a previous post, and although the style prompts several key changes throughout the song, I try to follow a basic form of another song I've heard or learned before and use that to avoid sudden modulations. It's time to change the song if:

•  I can't play it on the piano easily.
• The recording doesn't turn out after multiple tries (outside of technical difficulties).
• Some part of the song doesn't sound right.
• It doesn't look good on paper. 

Luckily, if you write the song, then you can change whatever you want with it. You can't change the song that you're going to play for an RCM exam, and make it shorter, longer, add something, remove something, change the dynamics........

Oh. I'm getting off topic again! I should let you listen to the song now. Maybe once you've heard it, you'll be able to understand what I'm saying about key changes, long songs, and changing songs. You should hear it anyways. It's good for your ears.