The sound of the modes

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   I thought that I would post a little something for those of you who are learning, or getting a grasp of music theory. Some people have wondered how to "hear" the sound of the various modes, that is: Ionian, Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, Mixolydian, Aeolian, Locrian.
I had a teacher in college who showed me one way of doing this. The idea is that you have a bass instrument (such as a bass guitar, left hand of a keyboard, lower strings on a guitar, etc) play the root note of the mode; while doing this, the chordal instrument will alternate between the IV and V chords of the parent key. So for example, in F Lydian, the bass instrument will keep playing 'F' while the chordal instrument will alternate between F and G triads, since these are the IV and V chords of the parent key.

As another example, for E Dorian, the bass would play an E note while the chordal instrument would play G and A chords (IV and V in the key of D). Here's an audio example of Lydian:

And here's an example of Dorian:

Edited by Seventh Arrow - May 27 2016 at 20:43

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Seventh Arrow Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Forum Newbie Joined: April 03 2014 Location: Toronto, Canada Status: Offline Points: 24	Topic: The sound of the modes Posted: May 27 2016 at 20:41
	I thought that I would post a little something for those of you who are learning, or getting a grasp of music theory. Some people have wondered how to "hear" the sound of the various modes, that is: Ionian, Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, Mixolydian, Aeolian, Locrian. I had a teacher in college who showed me one way of doing this. The idea is that you have a bass instrument (such as a bass guitar, left hand of a keyboard, lower strings on a guitar, etc) play the root note of the mode; while doing this, the chordal instrument will alternate between the IV and V chords of the parent key. So for example, in F Lydian, the bass instrument will keep playing 'F' while the chordal instrument will alternate between F and G triads, since these are the IV and V chords of the parent key. As another example, for E Dorian, the bass would play an E note while the chordal instrument would play G and A chords (IV and V in the key of D). Here's an audio example of Lydian: And here's an example of Dorian: Edited by Seventh Arrow - May 27 2016 at 20:43