Modes

What is a mode?

A mode is NOT a scale built by starting on a different interval of the major scale

this demonstrates an example of a mode, but it's not what a mode is

A mode IS a scale with a rotational relationship to another scale. That is, the pattern of intervals is the same, regardless of where the root is

in the image below we can see that if the root is at the 12 o'clock position, all we need to do is rotate it to get other modes in the modal family.

The number of members in a modal family is the same as the number of tones in the scale

ex. the major scale has 7 tones, and so there are 7 modes in that family (Ionian, Mixolydian etc.)

Mode is the word we use to describe a relationship between 2 or more scales

anal. the word cousin describes a specific kind of relationship between 2 people. A "cousin" is a person, but importantly, it describes the relationship between 2 people.

There are 228 modal families, which encompass all 1490 scales

the diatonic modal family is just one

Diatonic Modes (ie. modes of the major scale)

each mode has one more lowered interval relative to the tonic than the mode preceding it. Taking Lydian as reference,

Ionian (ie. major) has a lowered fourth;
Mixolydian, a lowered fourth and seventh;
Dorian, a lowered fourth, seventh, and third;
Aeolian (ie. natural minor), a lowered fourth, seventh, third, and sixth;
Phrygian, a lowered fourth, seventh, third, sixth, and second;
Locrian, a lowered fourth, seventh, third, sixth, second, and fifth.

Put another way, the augmented fourth of the Lydian mode has been reduced to a perfect fourth in Ionian, the major seventh in Ionian to a minor seventh in Mixolydian

All diatonic modes follow the repeating pattern wwhwwwh, with the only difference being which letter we start on

ie. in other words, to switch from Ionian to Lydian, we need to shift to the right 4 times, and wwhwwwh becomes wwhwwhw

Borrowed chords are distinguished from modulation by being brief enough that the tonic is not lost or displaced, and may be considered brief or transitory modulations

If we are playing in the key of D major, we could borrow from...

D Dorian
D Phrygian
D Lydian
D Mixolydian
etc.

`♭III`

Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band (chorus). Progression: I - ♭III - IV - I. So this is ♭III as a borrowed chord in a major key - borrowed from Aeolian.
Magical Mystery Tour (chorus)
Back in the USSR (verse)

The Modes

From brightest to darkest (following circle of fifths), the modes are:

Lydian
Ionian
Mixolydian
Dorian
Aeolian
Phrygian
Locrian

nm: I Dont Pee Like Most Alien Ladies

Dorian

The same as Aeolian, except with a natural 6th, making it sound a little bit less dark

in fact, because Phrygian doesn't have a natural 6th, Dorian is the only "minor" key that has one

Dorian is commonly found in funk, where it is more common that Aeolian.

The IV chord in a minor setting is enough to evoke the sound of the Dorian mode

Examples

Riders on the Storm (descending keyboard line during intro @ 0:33)
No Quarter - Led Zeppelin
Thriller michael jackson
Eleanor Rigby

Phrygian

The same as Aeolian (minor), except with a flattened 2nd

Much Flamenco music is in the Phrygian mode, though frequently with the third and seventh degrees raised by a semitone.

Lydian

Very similar to Ionian, with the only difference being a sharpened 4th, making a tritone interval with the tonic.

Aeolian

In the aeolian key the v chord is minor this results in it lacking the leading tone which when played shows a not very strong pull to the i. so for this reason often times v is made to be major. by making the v chord major we introduce (or reintroduce) a regular seven as opposed to the flat seven that is found in a natural minor scale This restores the total pole that the v has for pulling it back to one. Essentially, we are moving from the natural minor scale to the harmonic minor scale.

Just because we play a V (or V7) in a minor key doesn’t mean we can’t play the flattened 7th in the melody. In fact, both the flattened 7 and the natural 7 can work over the V7