How I explain this to newcomers: - Dorian: Minor after a mindfulness session. - Phrygian: Minor gone edgy. - Lydian: Major after visiting Tibet. - Mixolydian: Major with an adventurous edge. - Locrian: Unemployed alcoholic Phrygian. Please do another with other modes from other scales (especially, melodic minor).
As a middle eastern, the phrygian scale is always synonymous with a music that bears great sadness and sorrow. Interesting that in the western music it's often used for darker more intense themes.
It honestly it can really go both ways. I typically think of it more as sorrowful or dramatic, but it really depends on how you want a piece to sound and ultimately how people interpret it
Our musical senses are culturally conditioned. I'm aware of maqamat in classical Arabic music and it's influences on an Arab listener or on someone culturally conditioned into Arab culture. I am also aware that the ear of someone a few centuries back would be differently conditioned to that of today. So its not just culture but also distance back in time.
Great video...I think modes are best understood by examining the new harmonies these altered scale degrees imply and consider each one as a variation of either major (Ionian, Lydian, Mixolydian) or minor (Aeolian, Dorian, Phrygian, Locrian) without harmonic context, they appear as random scales, etc
Bravo et merci pour cette vidéo. Des explications et des exemples , le tout bien rythmé et accompagné par votre diction très accessible pour des non natifs anglophones. Beau boulot !
Thank you so much for using RVW's Fantasia on a theme by Thomas Tallis as an example of D Phrygian. I had no idea. Such an extraordinary piece which I have heard performed at the great Gloucester Cathedral in England. This was the location for the première performance back in about 1913.
You should learn modes on one root note eg. Cionic Cdorian etc instead of Cionic Ddorian Flydian. This will really make you hear the different colours Otherwise your ear will keep gravitating to the major scale with ionian being the tonal center.
I'm a beginner and I've incorporated practicing modes into practicing my scales, but I go in a different order. I start with Lydian, Ionian, Mixolidian, Dorian, Aeolian, Phrygian, and Lochrian, going down the tonal brightness. There is also another scale after Lochrian flattening the fourth (some sort of diminished scale) and you can also flatten the first. That is just playing the scale of the note of the first (B Major starting on C, for example). I don't know how long it will take me, but I don't want to advance too fast. I tried to learn different things to start out and hadn't mastered my triads.
this explanation perfectly demonstrates how modes are not actually a thing, unless you are writing melodies consisting mainly of scale runs. which most ppl dont. so tired of the current fad obsession with (and misunderstanding of) modes.
Very interesting video! I also enjoyed seeing the Toronto Symphony Orchestra in a couple of scenes, with a young looking Jonathan Crow (concertmaster).
This is a wonderful and concise look into modes. I disagree though, with thinking about them in relation to another scale (i.e. D dorian is the second mode of the C major scale) because the way it's used has nothing to do with the other scale. I just released a video about Jerry Goldsmith's score to The Mummy (1999) on my channel and looked at some more unique scales that were used there. I wish these were taught more
that's exactly what I thought, the scales/modes have already their own name, but I guess the relation explanation is because they are the most popular/taught.
4:31 I think Scarborough just modulates between D minor and C major, and B is just the natural note in C major. 7:02 Danse arab Tchaikowski: I'm pretty sure what's happening is a two tonic chord progression (from the full instrumentation): G+F, G, G+F, G+E, G with the E tonic on the trill
Again, a most interesting analysis. But from my layman perspective, I’m under the impression that you could slightly alter many things a bit more (I mean add a flat or sharp here and there). Just like switching from UK English to New-Zealand English but maybe in this region, they have a slightly different dialect or pronunciation. Hard to remember without exposure. May be you could try a Fourier Transform to translate each mode in terms of frequencies spectrum to find out the real discrepancies between modes.
I think it's important to stress that Lydian does not have to start on F. It can start on any note. Same with any of the other modes mentioned. Dorian does not have to start on D, and Mixolydian does not have to start on G. For a long time, I though they did have to start on these notes because modes are frequently explained using a C major scale. Using C major as a way to learn the modes can be helpful, but it shouldn't make people feel like certain modes have to start on certain notes. Just like a major scale can start on any note, so can each of the modes.
Hi! I love your videos on composers so can you do some composers like Stravinky, Bartók and Shostakovich because you analized only the 2nd movement his 11th symphony, thank you!
If you liked this video but want more, please check the two videos Jaime Altozano has on this subject. They are even better. The catch is they are in Spanish, but you can use CC.
I think another very good way to demonstrate each mode would have been to play each piece as if it were written in Ionion mode (for major keys) or in Aeolian mode (for minor keys) and demonstrate how it sounds so different. For example, play the Simpsons theme but play all the fourth notes as natural notes instead of sharpened notes.
I have for long thought that the tonic, subdominant and dominant would be different, but they aren't. They remain, but with a big, Big asterisk. 1. The V is only working very well as a dominant degree, if it's major. The v-I cadence essentially no longer conveys the satisfying resolution, that the perfect cadence is supposed to convey. And such things occure to the other scale degress as well. In locrian the I doesn't feel very resolved. It barely feels tonic. But overall they stay in place. A forth degree doesn't become dominant, just because you flattened the sixth degree, amd even sharpening it wouldn't make it a dominant.
5:34 I was wishing for more concrete examples of each mode. Instead of just naming the artists who have used the Dorian mode, it would have been nice to list the songs that used it or better yet include snippets of each song (I assume this wasn't done because of copyright issues).
11:51 "perfect for the character of Jack Sparrow" - who it wasn't composed for! Will Turner was originally the pirate in "He's A Pirate", not Jack! He was the main character
I know nothing about music theory (sadly), but I wonder if someone who does could help me out here. Below are two different versions of Purcell's "Fairest Isle", sung by Alfred Deller. Obviously they are in different keys, but are they also in different modes, or what is happening here? I am thinking of the 8th note he sings, the highest note of the "i" in "isles". In number 1 it's a half note higher than in number 2 (adjusted for key), and that brings it a completely different feeling. I like the 1st one more, but I can't really say why. 1. ua-cam.com/video/_9pVLr8SDZE/v-deo.html 2. ua-cam.com/video/Ce9y-mPfHnM/v-deo.html
Vaughan Williams was gentle in the first exposition of Tallis Theme, but in the repetition he hits you with all the power of a tragedy that just happened. Is not sweet music at all.
Please help! Every single explanation of modes that I've watched breaks my brain in the following way: "This is the C-Major Scale. C-D-E-F-G-A-B-C. Dorian mode means to start playing this scale using the 2nd degree as the tonic. D-E-F-G-A-B-C-D. Therefore, the C Dorian scale is C-D-Eb-F-G-A-Bb." WHAT IN THE ACTUAL F**K?!? 🙂 Seriously, if the Dorian mode of C Major is D-E-F-G-A-B-C-D then how can C Dorian be C-D-Eb-F-G-A-Bb? I swear every modes video glosses over this as if these aren't two impossibly confusing and contradictory pieces of information. Make it make sense!
@AndyWitmyer I want to thank you for your valiant effort! It was specifically the idea that the C Dorian scale is in fact the second mode of the Bb Ionian Scale that was tripping me up. I watched a series of videos that explained things so exclusively in the context of C Ionian that they made it sound like all modes had to be derived from that scale. I think they all assumed it was self-evident, but no one just directly stated or illustrated that this principle works for any root note. Now that I understand, here is how I wish it had been explained: The thing that makes a scale sound musical is this pattern of note intervals: T-T-S-T-T-T-S. Play that pattern starting with any key and you get the Ionian mode of that key. If you start playing the scale from the second note, this takes the first interval of the pattern and moves it to the end to create a new variation we call the Dorian mode: T-S-T-T-T-S-T. Repeat this process stepping through each note of the scale and you end up with 7 unique interval modes that give 7 different emotional vibes, even though it's really just one pattern cycling through. And it works in any key! Therefore all 12 root notes have all 7 modes, for a total of 84 modal scales. All you have to do is memorize one single interval pattern and how to cycle through it... then you will have 84 scales at your command! Or we can follow the traditions of Western Musical Education by only teaching two of these modes but somehow making it way more complicated? :-D
![Demonstrating 7 Ways that Composers Make Music Using Modes [SONGWRITING / THEORY]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/sC2qXLnVU3A/mqdefault.jpg)
![Demonstrating 7 Ways that Composers Make Music Using Modes [SONGWRITING / THEORY]](/img/tr.png)
8:54 so basically, Yoda has a higher fourth than the other characters. The fourth is with him. It all makes sense.
The fourth is stronger in this one.
May the forth be with you
Brilliant 😂
How I explain this to newcomers:
- Dorian: Minor after a mindfulness session.
- Phrygian: Minor gone edgy.
- Lydian: Major after visiting Tibet.
- Mixolydian: Major with an adventurous edge.
- Locrian: Unemployed alcoholic Phrygian.
Please do another with other modes from other scales (especially, melodic minor).
I'm in self-destruct mode
😮😅
Excellent video!!!
You've inverted the degrees I and V at 3:36 :)
As a middle eastern, the phrygian scale is always synonymous with a music that bears great sadness and sorrow. Interesting that in the western music it's often used for darker more intense themes.
It honestly it can really go both ways. I typically think of it more as sorrowful or dramatic, but it really depends on how you want a piece to sound and ultimately how people interpret it
Our musical senses are culturally conditioned. I'm aware of maqamat in classical Arabic music and it's influences on an Arab listener or on someone culturally conditioned into Arab culture. I am also aware that the ear of someone a few centuries back would be differently conditioned to that of today. So its not just culture but also distance back in time.
Great video...I think modes are best understood by examining the new harmonies these altered scale degrees imply and consider each one as a variation of either major (Ionian, Lydian, Mixolydian) or minor (Aeolian, Dorian, Phrygian, Locrian) without harmonic context, they appear as random scales, etc
Bravo et merci pour cette vidéo. Des explications et des exemples , le tout bien rythmé et accompagné par votre diction très accessible pour des non natifs anglophones. Beau boulot !
Excellent discussion. I especiallty like highlighting the notes in yellow as they are being played. Most informative.
Thank you so much for using RVW's Fantasia on a theme by Thomas Tallis as an example of D Phrygian. I had no idea. Such an extraordinary piece which I have heard performed at the great Gloucester Cathedral in England. This was the location for the première performance back in about 1913.
You should learn modes on one root note eg. Cionic Cdorian etc instead of Cionic Ddorian
Flydian.
This will really make you hear the different colours
Otherwise your ear will keep gravitating to the major scale with ionian being the tonal center.
Your work is worthy of praise as well.
I'm a beginner and I've incorporated practicing modes into practicing my scales, but I go in a different order. I start with Lydian, Ionian, Mixolidian, Dorian, Aeolian, Phrygian, and Lochrian, going down the tonal brightness. There is also another scale after Lochrian flattening the fourth (some sort of diminished scale) and you can also flatten the first. That is just playing the scale of the note of the first (B Major starting on C, for example).
I don't know how long it will take me, but I don't want to advance too fast. I tried to learn different things to start out and hadn't mastered my triads.
I Just Fallen In Love With C Minor Harmonic Scale, I Mean The Rock Guitar Melodies ❤❤
Seeing Chopin highlighted here brings a tear to my eye, thank you
this explanation perfectly demonstrates how modes are not actually a thing, unless you are writing melodies consisting mainly of scale runs. which most ppl dont. so tired of the current fad obsession with (and misunderstanding of) modes.
I see Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto 2 mentioned, I press like button.
This was a great explanation! The Mixolydian and Locrian Modes are my favorites! ☺️
Very interesting video! I also enjoyed seeing the Toronto Symphony Orchestra in a couple of scenes, with a young looking Jonathan Crow (concertmaster).
And then there are the modes from the minor scales (Mel and harm) and the double harm... Lots of modes to spend a lifetime of sound. Cool video 👍
Thank you for this lovely video. I love your examples and subtle humor. So instructional and enjoyable.
What an instructive video! Thank you for creating this type of high quality content
Dorian : minor #6 / Phrygian : minor b2 / Lydian : major #4 / Mixolydian : major b7 / Aeolian : natural minor scale / Locrian : minor b2, b5
Thanks so much for this video ! Very instructive and done with love for music :)
This is a wonderful and concise look into modes. I disagree though, with thinking about them in relation to another scale (i.e. D dorian is the second mode of the C major scale) because the way it's used has nothing to do with the other scale. I just released a video about Jerry Goldsmith's score to The Mummy (1999) on my channel and looked at some more unique scales that were used there. I wish these were taught more
that's exactly what I thought, the scales/modes have already their own name, but I guess the relation explanation is because they are the most popular/taught.
The clip at the beginning is of my local orchestra, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra 🥹
In Early Music, the mode is the final.
4:31 I think Scarborough just modulates between D minor and C major, and B is just the natural note in C major.
7:02 Danse arab Tchaikowski: I'm pretty sure what's happening is a two tonic chord progression (from the full instrumentation):
G+F, G, G+F, G+E, G with the E tonic on the trill
Thank you for this.. it’s really well made.
excellent video, thank you for helping us along.
Again, a most interesting analysis. But from my layman perspective, I’m under the impression that you could slightly alter many things a bit more (I mean add a flat or sharp here and there). Just like switching from UK English to New-Zealand English but maybe in this region, they have a slightly different dialect or pronunciation. Hard to remember without exposure. May be you could try a Fourier Transform to translate each mode in terms of frequencies spectrum to find out the real discrepancies between modes.
Thank you so much. Very helpful!
John Cage: “Do I really need modes?”
*writes piece that uses mode zero in the 4.33 piece*
I think it's important to stress that Lydian does not have to start on F. It can start on any note. Same with any of the other modes mentioned. Dorian does not have to start on D, and Mixolydian does not have to start on G. For a long time, I though they did have to start on these notes because modes are frequently explained using a C major scale.
Using C major as a way to learn the modes can be helpful, but it shouldn't make people feel like certain modes have to start on certain notes. Just like a major scale can start on any note, so can each of the modes.
Thank you ✌️
Congratulations for the video!
Just joined the Discord. Great channel.
Thanks
Hi! I love your videos on composers so can you do some composers like Stravinky, Bartók and Shostakovich because you analized only the 2nd movement his 11th symphony, thank you!
I would really like to see guides about Tchaikovsky's symphonies!
The opening theme isn't by RVW ; it is by Thomas Tallis. RVW used it.
If you liked this video but want more, please check the two videos Jaime Altozano has on this subject. They are even better. The catch is they are in Spanish, but you can use CC.
Great Video...
9:33 Personal study note. As you were, ladies and gents.
Lydian is common in Polish folk music; Chopin often raises the 4th of his major tunes.
I think another very good way to demonstrate each mode would have been to play each piece as if it were written in Ionion mode (for major keys) or in Aeolian mode (for minor keys) and demonstrate how it sounds so different. For example, play the Simpsons theme but play all the fourth notes as natural notes instead of sharpened notes.
Does it mean that T-S-D will be different for each mode too? Or it still be from a major scale?
I have for long thought that the tonic, subdominant and dominant would be different, but they aren't.
They remain, but with a big, Big asterisk.
1. The V is only working very well as a dominant degree, if it's major. The v-I cadence essentially no longer conveys the satisfying resolution, that the perfect cadence is supposed to convey.
And such things occure to the other scale degress as well. In locrian the I doesn't feel very resolved. It barely feels tonic.
But overall they stay in place. A forth degree doesn't become dominant, just because you flattened the sixth degree, amd even sharpening it wouldn't make it a dominant.
What ye say for a bit o’ praise ol’ chap?!
Can you do a video on Composer Charles Ives?
5:34 I was wishing for more concrete examples of each mode. Instead of just naming the artists who have used the Dorian mode, it would have been nice to list the songs that used it or better yet include snippets of each song (I assume this wasn't done because of copyright issues).
I wonder how the modes got their names? They look like the names of ancient Greek regions but how are the two related?
Its impossible to teach music theory, bec teachers are focused on the what, but listeners are there for the why
Disappointed that you didn't mention Heiliger dankesang in the lydian mode
What about modes derived from minor and harmonic minor scale ?
For some reason your microphone sounds very glitchy in this video which is unfortunate since the content is great....
11:51 "perfect for the character of Jack Sparrow" - who it wasn't composed for! Will Turner was originally the pirate in "He's A Pirate", not Jack! He was the main character
Если я не ошибаюсь начало композиции "Время вперёд" Свиридова в локрийском ладу
What guitar piece is that near the end, about 14:21
👏
What is the name of that piece that starts at 14:33?
it's a repeat of Vaughn Williams' Variations on a theme by Thomas Tallis (later in the piece).
Thanks a lot!
Both Bach & Beethoven used the Dorian.
Is it bad that I didn't feel any difference between any of these? They all felt like a series of notes to me.
You might be tone deaf, or if not, u need a LOT of ear training
Agreed-dude talked over his examples I had trouble hearing the specific pitches needed to define the mode in question cheers
I don't know what mode I like best.
I know nothing about music theory (sadly), but I wonder if someone who does could help me out here. Below are two different versions of Purcell's "Fairest Isle", sung by Alfred Deller. Obviously they are in different keys, but are they also in different modes, or what is happening here? I am thinking of the 8th note he sings, the highest note of the "i" in "isles". In number 1 it's a half note higher than in number 2 (adjusted for key), and that brings it a completely different feeling. I like the 1st one more, but I can't really say why.
1. ua-cam.com/video/_9pVLr8SDZE/v-deo.html
2. ua-cam.com/video/Ce9y-mPfHnM/v-deo.html
Vaughan Williams was gentle in the first exposition of Tallis Theme, but in the repetition he hits you with all the power of a tragedy that just happened. Is not sweet music at all.
Justinian didn’t live in the 9th century…
Harmony might be the greatest invention of Western music, and then there's its evolution into COUNTERPOINT, a whole other kind of animal.
Allen Van Wert!!! 😂
Everything is very interesting. But nothing is understandable 😢
I'd better continue my structural design activity.
Little secret...play a mode backwards and you will play another mode.
Please help! Every single explanation of modes that I've watched breaks my brain in the following way:
"This is the C-Major Scale. C-D-E-F-G-A-B-C. Dorian mode means to start playing this scale using the 2nd degree as the tonic. D-E-F-G-A-B-C-D. Therefore, the C Dorian scale is C-D-Eb-F-G-A-Bb."
WHAT IN THE ACTUAL F**K?!? 🙂
Seriously, if the Dorian mode of C Major is D-E-F-G-A-B-C-D then how can C Dorian be C-D-Eb-F-G-A-Bb? I swear every modes video glosses over this as if these aren't two impossibly confusing and contradictory pieces of information. Make it make sense!
@AndyWitmyer I want to thank you for your valiant effort! It was specifically the idea that the C Dorian scale is in fact the second mode of the Bb Ionian Scale that was tripping me up. I watched a series of videos that explained things so exclusively in the context of C Ionian that they made it sound like all modes had to be derived from that scale. I think they all assumed it was self-evident, but no one just directly stated or illustrated that this principle works for any root note. Now that I understand, here is how I wish it had been explained:
The thing that makes a scale sound musical is this pattern of note intervals: T-T-S-T-T-T-S. Play that pattern starting with any key and you get the Ionian mode of that key. If you start playing the scale from the second note, this takes the first interval of the pattern and moves it to the end to create a new variation we call the Dorian mode: T-S-T-T-T-S-T. Repeat this process stepping through each note of the scale and you end up with 7 unique interval modes that give 7 different emotional vibes, even though it's really just one pattern cycling through. And it works in any key! Therefore all 12 root notes have all 7 modes, for a total of 84 modal scales. All you have to do is memorize one single interval pattern and how to cycle through it... then you will have 84 scales at your command!
Or we can follow the traditions of Western Musical Education by only teaching two of these modes but somehow making it way more complicated? :-D
simpsons theme isnt in lydian, it uses lydian b7
BEETHOVEN IS GOD! 👊🏾🎹✨😈
The CHURCH MODES
Ionian is NOT major, leading people to believe that a V- I cadence is a "modal" cadence is wrong, tonal =/= modal
❤