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Musical mode

In music, a mode is an ordered series of musical intervals, which, along with the key or tonic define the pitches. However, mode is usually used in the sense of scale applied only to the specific diatonic scales found below.

History

The early music of Greek antiquity referred to scales in the context of scalar modes. The modes are named after cities that preferred a given mode in times past. The Greek philosopher Plato felt that playing music in a particular mode would incline one towards specific behavior associated with that mode, and suggested that soldiers should listen to music in dorian or phrygian modes to help make them stronger, but avoid music in lydian or ionian modes, for fear of being softened.

The Greek modes were:

There is a common misconception that the Church modes of medieval European music were directly descended from this notion of modality. In fact, the church modes originated in the 9th century. Authors from that period misinterpreted a text by Boethius, a scholar from the 6th century who had translated the Greek musical theory into Latin. In the 16th century, the Swiss theorist Henricus Glareanus published Dodekachordon, in which he solidified the concept of the church modes, and added four additional modes: the Aeolian, Hypoaeolian, Ionian, and Hypoionian. Thus, the names of the modes used today do not actually reflect those used by the Greeks. However, the use and conception of modes or modality today is also different from their use and conception in Early music. Jim Samson (1977, p.148) describes: "Clearly any comparison of medieval and modern modality would recognize that the latter takes place against a background of some three centuries of harmonic tonality, permitting, and in the nineteenth century requiring, a dialogue between modal and diatonic prodedure."

Early music made heavy use of the Church modes. A mode indicated a primary pitch or final and the organization of pitches in relation to the final, and suggested range, melodic formulas associated with different modes, location and importance of cadences, and affect (ie, emotional affect). As Liane Curtis (1998) explains, "Modes should not be equated with scales: principles of melodic organization, placement of cadences, and emotional affect are essential parts of modal content," in Medieval and Renaissance music.

Carl Dahlhaus (1990, p.192) lists "three factors that form the respective starting points for the modal theories of Aurelian of Réôme, Hermannus Contractus, and Guido of Arezzo:

The oldest medieval treatise regarding modes is Musica disciplina by Aurelian of Réôme while Hermannus Contractus was the first to define modes as partitionings of the octave (ibid, p.192-191).

However, the modes were later organized due to their relationship to the interval pattern of the major scale. The modern conception of modal scales describes a system where each mode is the usual diatonic scale, but with a different starting note. Modes came back into favour some time later in the development of jazz (modal jazz) and more contemporary 20th century music. Much folk music is also composed or best analysed in terms of modes. For example, in Irish traditional music the ionian, dorian, aeolian and mixolydian modes occur (in roughly decreasing order of frequency); the phrygian mode is an important part of the flamenco sound.

Some works by Beethoven contain modal inflections, and Chopin, Berlioz, and Liszt made extensive use of modes. They influenced nineteenth century Russian music, Mussorgsky and Borodin influenced Claude Debussy, Leos Janacek, and other twentieth century nationalists. Zoltán Kodály, Holst, Manuel de Falla use modal elements as modifications of a diatonic background, while Debussy and Bela Bartok modality replaces diatonic tonality. (Samson 1977)

While all tonal music may be described as modal, music that is labeled modal most often has less diatonic functionality and changes key less often.

Church modes

The eight Church modes, or Gregorian modes, can be divided into four pairs, where each pair shares the "final note" or tonic. Most chants in a particular mode will begin on the mode's final note, and all are expected to end on that note. The pair also shares the central five notes of the scale. If the "scale" is completed by adding the three upper notes, the mode is termed "authentic", while if the scale is completed by adding the three lower notes, the mode is called "plagal" (serious).

The pairs are organized so that the modes sharing a final note are numbered together, with the odd numbers used for the authentic modes and the even numbers for the plagal modes.

In addition, each mode has a "dominant" or "cofinal", to which the melody returns relatively frequently. For psalm tones, the dominant is the reciting tone. This is a fifth above the final for authentic tones, and a third above for plagal tones. However, if the dominant is si (B), it is usually raised to do (C). In mode V, the melody very often ends on the dominant rather than the final.

Only one accidental is permitted in classical Gregorian chant -- si (B) may be lowered by a half-step. This usually (but not always) occurs in modes V and VI, and is optional in other modes.

Given the confusion between ancient, Early, and modern terminology, "today it is more consistent and practical to use the traditional designation of the modes with numbers one to eight," (Curtis 1998) using Roman numeral (I-VIII), rather than using the pseudo-Greek naming system.

The eight musical modes. f indicates "final" according to Curtis, 1998.

TTsTTTs Ionian (modern major)
TsTTTsT Dorian
sTTTsTT Phrygian
TTTsTTs Lydian
TTsTTsT Mixolydian
TsTTsTT Aeolian (modern minor)
sTTsTTT Locrian

Ionian     C major
Dorian     D
Phrygian   E
Lydian     F
Mixolydian G
Aeolian    A minor
Locrian    B