Modes Parts 1 - 9

[bblak]

terrible, bombed. 3/10 & 2/10. why ??? I look ahead and see, no harmonic framing. I’m getting why now, when playing a modal progression with too many chords it just starts to sound like Ionian or Aeolian. Harmonic center, framing.

[Richard_close2u]

@bblak

terrible, bombed. 3/10 & 2/10. why ??? I look ahead and see, no harmonic framing

Just that.
I was naughty - on purpose.
Modes are often taught in short bursts and only concentrate on the scale and what it can do to create melody etc.
Without the ‘modal framework’ of harmonic context, with only a set of notes to listen to, it remains difficult to discern and distinguish between them.

[bblak]

@Richard_close2u

Without the ‘modal framework’ of harmonic context, with only a set of notes to listen to, it remains difficult to discern and distinguish between them.

Precisely why I never heard of it, not a word of it, won’t say nothin’ to no one without any proof…. (teaser)

[Richard_close2u]

Modes Part 5 - The Colour of Modes: A Digression.

What about the colour wheel that I have overlaid above the Circle of Fifths?
Does it speak to us?
Does it add clarity or substance or fuller understanding of the character of the modes?

I must confess, when I first came to this idea, I was hugely excited. I thought that, without doubt, people would view the major type modes, comprising as they do a large proportion of colours from the bright end of the spectrum, as … well … just that … bright, lively, cheerful etc. And I felt sure people would view the coloured arcs of the minor type modes, with their varying depths and hues of blue, as being sad, dark, sombre etc.

In advance of writing any posts on modes whatever, and without so much as a hint of my intention, I posted an open-ended discussion topic in the old JG Forum starting with:

I have a favour to ask, for a little project I have going on.
I’m going to post some colour charts / swatches that are blends of several colours.
Would you please look and comment with your impressions. Describe them using whatever words or phrases or descriptors come to mind, whether in absolute terms, comparative terms, poetical terms, emotional terms or anything.
There are no rules or expectations, right or wrong - just a request from me to look at the various combinations and write your reactions / responses.
Many thanks.

I then put on display these seven colour swatches in this specific order:

[Richard_close2u]

Colours No.1

Colours No.2

Colours No.3

Colours No.4

Colours No.5

Colours No.6

Colours No.7

[Richard_close2u]

Here are some of the responses made:

@glpguitar

I do not know if you need them one by one but with me it went like:
Seeing the first and second: complete confusion what those squares show, they also feel differently sized (optical illusion like). Continuing to a third: wait a second, there’s something going on. On the last one, okay I see a cylinder of squares rolling and making a colourful circle

@adi_mrok

No.1 Ok great colours
No.2 Where the heck is green?!
No.3 Blues are going, damn
No.4 I REPEAT, BLUES ARE GOING!
No.5 Blues are gone, very sunny now
No.6 Oh green is back!
No.7 And green has a friend now!

@LievenDV

Are you trying to capture the modes in colors?
No.1 impressions - a box of colors in a windows 3.11 mspaint, cold set of colors with green and red trying but not getting nay warmer than the tints of blue between them. No real character besides being rather cold, from an older, digital age. Unpersonal, chill but with potential to slide into something more comfortable because green is optimistic
No.2 - A bit more character. The orange leads the other colors, leading the by example of what a color can be when it succeeds to “stand out”. The red is the second in command while the army of cold tints follows in a neat formation.
No.3 - A better balance than 2, shifting the weight more to the middle of the set. Here the purple becomes the center of attention, with red as his executive officer. The set feels more natural because it covers a broader spectrum.
No.4 - A natural quality of summer to it. It feels rather balanced. It was a warm day but a gentle cooling night already took a part of the sky. Excellent time to order that cocktail
No.5 - Getting radiant, trying hard to be noticed and hip. The overenthusiastic character of a group of youngsters is represented by the red and yellows. Energetic but needs to be tempered now and then
No.6 - Purple is the odd one out but he’s learning to fit in. He brings spice in a balanced set and reminds the rest that diversity actually makes stronger. “At first we thought purple would mess around with our balance but we learned to accept him”.
No.7 - Classic balanced score card / condition formatting. What you expect, the most vanilla of the modes? Nothing surprising, no real character and very neutral. Lows, highs all in balance with the risk of becoming dull.

@DarrellW

I prefer to look at it as a progression on colours and tones that also shows the relationship between them. To me this is only a part of the progression but indicates where it is possibly going to. I think that 1 to 7 may represent a progressive change in feel from cold to warm.

@stuartw

The main thing I see is that the red square moves right to left as you do down the list! Actually, all the colours move from right to left. I’m not getting anything apart from a bunch of colours. I guess I must be missing something.

@CT

I didn’t see one color in the whole lot that I didn’t like. All my favorite colors are well represented. Does it make sense that my eyes tend to focus on the middle color of each set?
EDIT: And then (according to my perception) the colors rotate one click to the left from center.

@firstrazor

There are altogether 12 colors circling. If one color represents 2 hours, this is about half day from dawn to noon. Sorry I am an engineer by training, that’s the best I can describe.

@DavidP

My sense is of 7 progressions … majority are a harmonious flow from the leftmost shade to the righmost. But a few had a single colour that jarred and didn’t seem to belong, which made me curious as to why it was there. For me it is about evolution and change, how a big shift eventually happens through small shifts, each of which was gentle … except for those patterns that included the colour that didn’t seem to fit.

@brianlarsen

The colours are gross. They all remind me of of trying to decide which bit-number colour display I should choose for my monitor when my pc’s memory is running low. My main thoughts centre around: Why does Richard want to know? Is Richard really asking the question or is this post-vaccination ‘chip-phishing’. Sorry if that’s not helpful, but I’m sure I’ll be entertained peering into the minds of fellow-forumites!

@Rossco01

The green seems the odd one out to me… the other swatches move from “cool” blue to “hot” orange/red in variations.

@ChaseTheDream

When I first looked through the groupings I sensed a change in tension from one to the next.

@kontenda

A gradual rage that peaks and then slowly calms.

@skinnyt

I just saw a series of coloured boxes, didn’t see/think/feel anything else. Looking at paint shop charts really.

@dan71

Gut reactions: they all feel partial (missing a colour) and in the wrong order. You seem to like orange and blue. That yellow is kinda unpleasant (to me, on this screen). If they’re about picking a colour scheme for something, then maybe #2 … they work together while still being clearly different and having scope for an accent / highlight.

I also received various direct messages in response to this. I also sought comment from friends, family and others. So I collated a large set of responses.

[Richard_close2u]

My hopes, anticipations and expectations were somewhat confounded by people’s actual perceptions. I asked - without disclosing my intent – in the forum and elsewhere for people to ascribe to the various combinations of seven colours words, descriptions, reactions, responses, emotional reflexes etc. No rules – just whatever came to mind.

And the comments that I received in return (for which I am most grateful for all who took a little time to do so) caused me to rethink my expectations and question the narrative that the sound and character of the modes can be closely aligned with the sense of colours shown within the colour wheel that I used.

I had a feeling somewhat akin to having made a gigantic sandwich - whilst voraciously hungry - only to find with successive bites that one of the ingredients tastes off.

My glorious hypothesis may have been shattered.

I’ll let you decide for yourselves if that is the case.

[Richard_close2u]

Here again are seven modes, each represented as notes within seven-note colour arcs, and each with several accompanying features.

• The modal frame.
• The written scale.
  The original colour sample
• An audio track of a modal melody.
• A wordle-type graphic depicting some of the many descriptive words and phrases that the colour-blend arcs inspired in others that they shared.

Just to vary things, the modes will proceed in the reverse order to that used so far. Which means that they will match the colour samples from No1 to No7 presented above also.
The order will be:
Locrian
Phrygian
Aeolian
Dorian
Mixolydian
Ionian
Lydian.

If all of this colour-based thinking has any substance you will be hearing, seeing and immersing yourself in sounds that move from dark to light, from gloomy to cheery.
We shall see.

[Richard_close2u]

The C Locrian Mode

—

Colour sample

Wordle

Do any of those descriptors resonate with you when you listen to the Locrian melody?

Locrian melody

[Richard_close2u]

The C Phrygian Mode

—

Colour sample

Wordle

Do any of those descriptors resonate with you when you listen to the Phrygian melody?

Phrygian melody

[Richard_close2u]

The C Aeolian (natural minor) Mode

—

Colour sample

Wordle

Do any of those descriptors resonate with you when you listen to the Aeolian melody?

Aeolian melody

[Richard_close2u]

The C Dorian Mode

—

Colour sample

Wordle

Do any of those descriptors resonate with you when you listen to the Dorian melody?

Dorian melody

[Richard_close2u]

The C Mixolydian Mode

—

Colour sample

Wordle

Do any of those descriptors resonate with you when you listen to the Mixolydian melody?

Mixolydian melody

[Richard_close2u]

The C Ionian Mode

—

Colour sample

Wordle

Do any of those descriptors resonate with you when you listen to the Ionian melody?

Ionian melody

[Richard_close2u]

The C Lydian Mode

—

Colour sample

Wordle

Do any of those descriptors resonate with you when you listen to the Lydian melody?

Lydian melody

[Richard_close2u]

Once I had posted all of the above, the colours, the modal scales, the melodies, further comments were made:

@ChaseTheDream

You asked about associating words to the modes so I listened to each clip and jotted down descriptive words before I looked at your word charts. FWIW here are my descriptors (be aware many think I live in an altered reality…).

Locarian - Dreamy
Phrygian - Foreboding (Shadows, Mystery)
Aeolian - Wistful (Balanced Anxiety)
Dorian - Hopeful (Cocktails Hour)
Mixolidian - Waking (Lightening)
Ionian - Bedtime
Lydian - Cruise mode (Neutral)

@TheMadman_tobyJenner

Now to those wordle melodies ! Always difficult to get a real feel of the vibe or mood when the melody is isolated from a chord progression but you can hear each as being discreet.

• Locrian Dark ethereal mystery, the Devil is in the detail
• Phrygian Spooky meets Turkish Delight and lingers hauntingly
• Aeolian Dark moody and questioning
• Dorian Tantalising teasing out of the darkness, optimistic but suspicious
• Mixolydian Happy exotica with a hint of melodrama
• Ionian Cheerful and joyous with a touch of Claire Grogan
• Lydian Cheery with a little dark undertone, suspicious Ms Grogan
  Despite what you say about Lydian being the brightest, to me it has a question mark hanging over it. Its like the 4# raises the eyebrows ? MHO

[roger_holland]

Hi Richard,
Hopefully this is something from the old forum as I totally missed it,…i haven’t read everyone’s comments,…but @adi_mrok , I nearly choked on my tea laughing…

And do you want us to reply per subject or everything in its entirety, in connection with the overview,…not that I have much to say,…most words are correct,…except sunset /sundown that can’t go together(especially if you’re reading this in winter) logically for me,… and the colors red and orange are the colors for the blues, and blue( Blauw…kou…in dutch) is more sharp and cold,…but yes that’s more of a language thing…
Locrian : relief and calm…not for me

If you’d rather see it written differently, just say so…
Good luck,

[Richard_close2u]

Hi Rogier.

To respond or not to respond, that is the question!

Honestly, seriously, this Part 5 I deliberately called a digression as it is an entirely voluntary and unnecessary walk through a little flight of fantasy that I had, a little hypothesis that people would, unprompted, connect colour groups with words, descriptions, moods, feelings etc. And somehow, magically, those same descriptors, some similar emotional responses, would be brought out by the sound of the modes.
I am likely wrong.
Right or wrong, I got excited for a little while and it was a bit of fun.

[roger_holland]

@Richard_close2u

I am likely wrong.
Right or wrong, I got excited for a little while and it was a bit of fun.

You were certainly not wrong…colors and sounds (and emotions) have been going together since the beginning,…only for some people other colors and words apply to some sounds,…it is not for nothing that they are used in many studies methods,…if it was simple and the same for everyone, therapists/researchers/teachers wouldn’t have to use it anymore…which group do you belong to?

But one thing is certain for me … with colors learning much more fun for me … without my big 4 color pen it is not writing for me

[TheMadman_tobyjenner]

I think I still stand by these descriptions but would drop the Happy tag from Mixo and say “driving exotica” but that may just be down to the backing tracks I’ve been drawn to. But yes an Allman Bro style BT brings out the happy side, others can be a little darker despite it being classed as a Major mode. Or it could be me slipping in a timely 3b now and then !