Modes Part 4 - Modal Melodies: the sound of the modes?
It is time to involve the ears in our cognition.
We are going to hear seven parallel modes, all with root note C. First in a simple ascending and descending sequence. Then in a three-note sequence formed from playing three notes up, going back two, three notes up, going back two and so on. This inverts once the upper most note of the pattern is reached. These may still sound like the scale exercises / etudes I decried earlier when discussing modes in series. However, I hope that this time, a distinct difference in character and the unique flavour of each mode becomes just that bit more evident in the eras.
We are going to start with the Lydian mode - the mode found when the modal frame holding a seven-note cluster was rotated to its furthest point clockwise. We will work anticlockwise, ending with Locrian. The order will be:
Lydian
Ionian
Mixolydian
Dorian
Aeolian
Phrygian
Locrian