Why Are Musical Modes So Confusing?
Confusion
Modes in music are perhaps one of the most confusing things to understand. They can be explained in many different ways, and why they even exist in the first place might not be obvious. However, understanding modes can unlock another level of understanding of music and demonstrate one of the most important concepts within music, the concept of home.
So what is a mode?
Well, in simple terms, a mode is a type of scale. It’s a set of notes. For a typical major scale, we have seven notes; one of each letter. Sometimes some of those notes are sharp and some of those notes are flat. So a scale might contain just the regular letters: A, B, C, D, E, F, and G, or some of those may be sharp (e.g. A, B, C#, D, E, F#, and G) or flat (A, Bb, C, D, Eb, F, and G). Modes are just another way of organising these seven notes.
There are two explanations that are used to explain how we find the notes that are in the modal scales; the offset method or the interval method.
The Offset Method
If we take the scale of C major, this contains just the white notes, and the notes in the scale are C, D, E, F, G, A, and B. To find the different modes, we can take a major scale and offset the scale. Instead of having a C major scale that starts on C, we can play the same scale but start on a D, so D, E, F, G, A, B, and C. This scale is a mode, and this particular scale is called D Dorian. We could offset it again and have E, F, G, A, B, C, and D, and this would be E Phrygian, and so on. So this means that there are seven different modal scales because we can have a scale starting on each of the notes from a regular major scale.
C D E F G A B - C Major Scale (Ionian Mode)
D E F G A B C - D Dorian Mode
E F G A B C D - E Phrygian Mode
F G A B C D E - F Lydian Mode
G A B C D E F - G Mixolydian Mode
A B C D E F G - A Natural Minor Scale (A Aeolian Mode)
B C D E F G A - B Locrian Mode
The Interval Method
When we learn major scales for the first time, often we learn them by the distances between the notes that are in the scale. Once again, if we take the scale of C major with its notes C, D, E, F, G, A, and B, we can see this as a series of tones and semitones (whole steps and half steps). A semitone or a half-step is the smallest distance on the piano between two consecutive keys, white or black. A tone or a whole step is two semitones/half steps.
In a regular major scale, we have the pattern tone, tone, semitone, tone, tone, tone, semitone (T T S T T T S).
When we play a modal scale, the pattern for each type of mode is different. And so we can learn modes by the pattern of tones and semitones that they produce. A Dorian mode, for example, uses tone, semitone, tone, tone, tone, semitone, tone (T S T T T S T). The Phrygian mode uses semitone, tone, tone, tone, semitone, tone, tone (S T T T S T T).
T T S T T T S - Major Scale (Ionian Mode)
T S T T T S T - Dorian Mode
S T T T S T T - Phrygian Mode
T T T S T T S - Lydian Mode
T T S T T S T - Mixolydian Mode
T S T T S T T - Natural Minor Scale (Aeolian Mode)
S T T S T T T - Locrian Mode
Thinking of the modes in this way allows you to find the mode starting on any note on the piano. However, there is some more up-front learning that is required.
Home
This, however, raises the question; what is the point in modal scales? If they just contain the same notes as the regular major scales do, then what is the point?
Well, this comes down to the concept of “home” in music. When we play a regular C major scale, that major scale is defined by what note one and chord one are in the scale. In a C major scale, the note C (note 1) and the chord C major (chord 1) feel like home. It’s the place where the music will most likely start and, at the end of the piece of music, it’s where it will arrive back to. All of the chords and notes that you hear within that piece of music relate to that tonal center (in the case of C major, the tonal center being C).
So if we play using a modal scale, our tonal center shifts, and what feels like home is different. If we take D Dorian, for example (D, E, F, G, A, B, C), the notes in the scale are exactly the same as the notes in a C major scale. However, if used correctly, D will feel like home. All of the notes and chords that are used will be with the intention of making D feel like our place of arrival. Meaning that the choice of chords and how the melody is used around those chords changes.
This is usually done by repeating the tonal center (e.g. D in D Dorian) to make it more obvious that this is our home, having phrases end on chord 1 in the mode, emphasising the unique notes in the scale that make it modal, and avoiding using chord sequences that strongly pull towards the regular major scale.
Character
So when would we actually want to use a mode and why?
Modes have a very unique quality of sound, and they often have very strong associations with particular feelings. For example, the Lydian mode is associated with sounding kind of magical and is most famously used in The Simpsons theme tune (also in Yoda’s Theme in Star Wars). The Dorian mode has a kind of contemplative sadness to it and is used in songs like Mad World by Tears for Fears or Woodstock by Joni Mitchell.
Modes are sometimes difficult to spot because they can be understood as notes and chords from a regular major scale (D Dorian can be understood as chords from C major). However, what makes modal scales so interesting is the new world of characters that you can produce simply by changing where home is and what home feels like in a piece of music.
Matt