Music and Musicians Exchange - The sound of the modes

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The sound of the modes

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Forum Name: Music and Musicians Exchange
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URL: http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=106839
Printed Date: November 26 2024 at 08:31
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Topic: The sound of the modes

Posted By: Seventh Arrow
Subject: The sound of the modes
Date 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: