Lesson 2 — Modes

The modes of the major scale

The modes are seven scales made from the same material as the major scale, but each one has its own color depending on where its semitones fall.

In this lesson we present them as parallel modes: they all start from the same tonic. That lets you hear and compare each one's character directly over a fixed note.

| Mode | Character | | --- | --- | | Ionian | The major scale. Bright and stable. | | Dorian | Minor with a major 6th. Modal, jazzy sound. | | Phrygian | Minor with a minor 2nd. Dark, "Spanish". | | Lydian | Major with an augmented 4th. Ethereal, dreamy. | | Mixolydian | Major with a minor 7th. Blues and rock sound. | | Aeolian | Natural minor. | | Locrian | With a diminished 5th. Unstable. |

Exercise

Pick a tonic (any note) and play the 7 parallel modes from it, in order:

Ionian · Dorian · Phrygian · Lydian · Mixolydian · Aeolian · Locrian

Each mode goes tonic to tonic, ascending (8 notes). That's 56 notes in a single channel (Soprano). Export the MIDI and upload it to the Virtual Teacher.