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Modes: What are they and how do I use

them?
24 September 2018, 17:21 | Updated: 23 October 2019, 09:59

From their meaning to their history in Western music, here's an easy

guide to modes.

The word ‘mode’ comes from the Latin for ‘manner, or method’ but musical modes all
originated in ancient Greece, so they have Greek names.

The modes were named after various regions, perhaps to represent the people who lived
there, because Greek musical theorists were philosophers too, and associated the arts
with aspects of morality.

Basically, a mode is a type of scale, as in ‘doh re mi fa so la ti do’. Alter just one of those
notes and you can call your scale a ‘mode’.

Long before people started thinking about pieces of music having ‘keys’, each mode is
believed to have begun on a different note of the scale, conferring its own character to
the set of notes running, for example, C to C (Ionian mode) or E to E (Phrygian mode)
and so on.

How many modes are there?

The seven main categories of mode have been part of musical notation since the middle
ages.

So, the list goes: Ionian, Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, Mixolydian, Aeolian and Locrian. Some
of them are major modes, some are minor, and some are ambiguous. Some modes are
sadder or holier than others.

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The Ionian mode is a simple ‘doh re mi’ major key. It is the modern major scale. It is
composed of natural notes beginning on C.
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A typical example of music in the Ionian mode would be Mozart's Flute and Harp
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The Dorian mode is very similar to the modern natural minor scale. The only difference
is in the sixth note, which is a major sixth above the first note, rather than a minor sixth. The best classical music and
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Good examples of the use of Dorian mode in music are 'Billie Jean' by Michael Jackson,
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The Phrygian is the third mode. It is also very similar to the modern natural minor scale. We just got a glimpse of
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The only difference is in the second note, which is a minor second not a major. The
Phrygian dominant is also known as the Spanish gypsy scale, because it resembles the
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scales found in flamenco music.

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Music that uses the Phyrigian mode include Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsody No.2, Rimsky
Korsakov's Scheherezade, Vaughan Williams's Fantasia on a Theme of Thomas Tallis
and the final aria of Philip Glass's Satyagraha.

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Occasions

Moods
Lydian

The Lydian mode has just one note changed from the Ionian, a major scale, but with the
fourth note from the bottom sharpened to give a slightly unsettling sound.
Instruments

Lydian mode

Music that employs the Lydian mode includes Chopin's Mazurka No. 15, the theme tune
to 'The Simpsons', and the third movement of Ludwig van Beethoven's String Quartet
No. 15 in A minor.

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Mixolydian

The single tone that differentiates this scale from the major scale is its seventh note,
which is a flattened seventh rather than a major seventh.
Tunes that emply the mixolydian mode include The Beatles' 'Norwegian Wood', the
theme to the TV series of Star Trek and Debussy's 'The Sunken Cathedral'.

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Aeolian

Aeolian is the natural minor scale, heard in such popular songs as Bob Dylan’s 'All along
the watchtower' or REM's 'Losing my Religion'.

Locrian

The Locrian mode has five notes in its scale flattened a half-step.

Locrian mode

There are passages in the Locrian mode in works by Rachmaninov, for example the
Prelude in B minor, op. 32, no. 10, and in Sibelius's Symphony no. 4 in A minor.

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