The soft way up a whole step: your 5 chord is the new key's 4, so resolve it plagally — no dominant, no leading tone, just an amen into the higher room. The gentle sibling of the truck driver.
hear it in Beatles-school lifts — no dominant required
Lead-in — how players set it upApproach 5 normally — from 1 or 2- — then just... don't cadence.Or sus the 5 first — the gate opens slower, sweeter.Or approach 5 plagally from 2- — predominant into the gate.Follow — where it usually goesThe plagal landing invites a mellow first phrase up top.Answer with the new key's 6- for instant depth upstairs.Or gate again — old-5-equals-new-4 chains up in whole steps.
Plagal exits love pentatonics — leave through the 4 door singing 1, 6, 5 of the OLD key; they're all diatonic where you land.Target tones (in C)C — lean on E (3)G — lean on B (3)D — lean on F# (3)Half-step wiresC ↘ B · G ↘ F#Across the borderno shared tonic tones with D — cut clean and re-land