Modes

It’s even more complex than we thought! First of all the picture is complicated by the fact that different authors have used the same words at different times to refer to slightly different things. There are three main kinds of modes that could be meant when someone says words like Phrygian, Dorian, Mixolydian, and so on: Modern modes, Church or Gregorian modes, and Greek musical theory.

modern modes, of which there are seven, though only the so-called major (Ionian) and minor (Aeolian) scales have any real popularity in Western music. These are not hugely easy to understand, but can best be explained by the use of a piano keyboard. If you play only on the white notes and start at the note indicated, you’ll get the named scale. C:Ionian, D:Dorian, E:Phrygian, F:Lydian, G:Mixolydian, A:Aeolian, B:Locrian (A mnemonic to help remember the order: I Don't Play Loud Music After Lectures)

Most of this next bit is well beyond our scope, but I kept it here because of the examples of well-known songs in each mode.
• The Ionian mode has a V7 chord, and is the only mode where the V7 occurs naturally. Without further clarification, "major mode" or just "major" refers to the Ionian mode. Most common songs, including such simple classics as "Happy Birthday to You" and "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star," are in the Ionian mode.
• The Dorian mode has a characteristic raised sixth relative to the Aeolian mode, which produces a major IV chord and a minor II chord. "What shall we do with the drunken sailor", "Greensleeves", the main theme from Halo, the rock song "Born to Be Wild", and "Scarborough Fair" ("Parsley Sage Rosemary and Thyme") are in the Dorian mode, as is the Sixth Symphony by Jean Sibelius.
• The Phrygian mode has a lowered second relative to Aeolian, which creates its characteristic ♭II major and v diminished chords. This mode is quite common in flamenco music and is often referred to as the "Spanish" mode. The Jimmy Somerville song "So Cold The Night" and the Jefferson Airplane song "White Rabbit" are in Phrygian mode. The second movement of Brahms's Fourth Symphony famously opens in the Phrygian mode.
• The Lydian mode has a raised fourth relative to the Ionian, which creates a iv diminished, vii minor, and a II major chord. The theme song from the TV show The Simpsons is a commonly-cited example of the Lydian mode with its prominent raised fourth, although its lowered seventh technically puts it in a mode derived from the melodic minor scale, known as "Lydian Dominant". The first syllable of the birthday celebrant's name in "Happy Birthday" (after "Happy birthday, dear ...") is the raised fourth of a Lydian chord.
• The Mixolydian mode has a flat 7th degree relative to the Ionian; this creates a I7, a v minor, and a VII major chord. There is also a iii dim chord, but it is not used extensively in modal compositions. The Beatles song "Norwegian Wood" and the ABBA song "The Visitors" are in Mixolydian mode. Jazz and boogie woogie are often written in this mode as well. Scottish bagpipes, which have B-flat as the tonic, generally play on an approximately Mixolydian scale, with the 7th note (G-sharp) a quarter-tone between G-sharp and A. Minimalist composers also make extensive use of this mode, John Coolidge Adams, being a good example.
• The Aeolian mode has a flat three, six, and seven; its characteristic chords are the minor iv and v chords. There is a subtle distinction between an Aeolian modal composition and a composition in a minor key, because the sixth and seventh degrees in a minor key can be altered to create major IV and V chords. The Aeolian mode is also more commonly known as the Natural (Pure) minor scale. In cases where the Aeolian mode has the same key signature as a particular major key but with a different tonic, it is referred to as the Relative minor scale. For example, A Aeolian is the Relative minor of the C major scale. The guitar solo in "Achilles Last Stand" by Led Zeppelin is in Aeolian mode. Many popular children's songs such as "The Ants Go Marching" are in the Aeolian mode.
• The Locrian mode has flattened second and fifth scale degrees relative to the Aeolian and has a diminished i chord. It is highly unstable, and its diminished i chord makes establishing tonality in the mode nearly impossible. The few pieces written in this mode usually used an altered i minor chord (B-D-F♯) to establish the tonal center, and then used the minor iii (D-F-A) and major V chord (F-A-C) to establish the modality. The locrian mode is so unstable that the ♭II chord cannot be used as it will quickly and inevitably establish itself as the I chord of a major key. The iv minor chord in second inversion with the tonic doubled is a good I chord for Locrian because it is the exact reverse of a major chord.

church modes, or Gregorian modes. There were 8 of these originating in the 9th century, with some confusion to do with trying to make Boethius and other sources correspond with church chants and modes. This gets deep fast, but there were these eight: Dorian, Hypodorian, Phrygian, Hypophrygian, Lydian, Hypolydian, mixolydian, Hypomixolydian. Four more were added in the sixteenth century: Aeolian, Hypoaeolian, Ionian, Hypoionian

Various interpretations of the "character" imparted by the different modes have been suggested. Three such interpretations, from Guido of Arezzo (995-1050Adam of Fulda (1445-1505), and Juan de Espinoza Medrano (1632-1688), follow:
Name Mode D'Arezzo Fulda Espinoza Example chant
Dorian I serious any feeling happy, taming the passions Veni sancte spiritus
Hypodorian II sad sad serious and tearful Iesu dulcis amor meus
Phrygian III mystic vehement inciting anger Kyrie, fons bonitatis
Hypophrygian IV harmonious tender inciting delights, tempering fierceness Conditor alme siderum
Lydian V happy happy happy Salve Regina
Hypolydian VI devout pious tearful and pious Ubi caritas
Mixolydian VII angelical of youth uniting pleasure and sadness Introibo
Hypomixolydian VIII perfect of knowledge very happy Ad cenam agni providi


Greek tonoi or harmoniai (the word mode derives from Latin). A bewildering array of stuff, all inconveniently utilizing the same words to make different points. In the Aristoxenian system, there were apparently seven scales, but 13 or more tonoi, and I don’t know how many harmoniai, or even exactly what Plato, Aristotle, and Ptolemy were talking about. This means that Plato’s observations on the properties of the various types are tantalizing, but not too practically useful without a doctorate in ancient music theory, and I don’t care that much.
In the Republic, Plato uses the term inclusively to encompass a particular type of scale, range and register, characteristic rhythmic pattern, textual subject, etc. (Mathiesen 2001a, 6(iii)(e)). He held that playing music in a particular harmonia would incline one towards specific behaviors associated with it, and suggested that soldiers should listen to music in Dorian or Phrygian harmoniai to help make them stronger, but avoid music in Lydian, Mixolydian or Ionian harmoniai, for fear of being softened. Plato believed that a change in the musical modes of the state would cause a wide-scale social revolution.
The philosophical writings of Plato and Aristotle (c. 350 BC) include sections that describe the effect of different harmoniai on mood and character formation. For example, this quote from Aristotle's Politics (viii:1340a:40–1340b:5):
The musical modes [harmoniôn] differ essentially from one another, and those who hear them are differently affected by each. Some of them make men sad and grave, like the so called Mixolydian; others enfeeble the mind, like the relaxed modes; another, again, produces a moderate or settled temper, which appears to be the peculiar effect of the Dorian; and the Phrygian inspires enthusiasm. (Jowett 1943,[page needed])
Plato and Aristotle describe the modes to which a person listened as molding the person's character. The modes even made the person more or less fit for certain jobs. The effect of modes on character and mood was called the "ethos of music".