Modes of the Major Scale

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Chapter 4 · Lesson 05

In short

Take the seven notes of the major scale and start from another degree: the same notes, with another "home", give another scale. These seven scales are the modes of the major scale. Three of them you already know as dromoi.

Lesson Notes

The major and the natural minor share the same notes; you know that from the relative scales. The same trick works from the other five degrees too.

01The same scale, another home

The notes of C major are C D E F G A B. Play them from D to the next D, changing nothing, and your ear takes D as the tonic. The order of tones and semitones has changed (T-S-T-T-T-S-T instead of T-T-S-T-T-T-S), so the character changes too: this scale is the Dorian mode.

D Dorian: the notes of C major from D

The same notes as C major, but the semitones fall elsewhere: between the 2nd and 3rd, and between the 6th and 7th degree.

In the same way, every degree of the major scale gives a mode. Seven degrees, seven modes, named after ancient Greek tribes (the names travelled through medieval music and do not match the ancient scales).

02The seven modes

The modes of the major scale

ModeFrom degreeIntervals · same as

Ionian1stT-T-S-T-T-T-S · matzore

Dorian2ndT-S-T-T-T-S-T

Phrygian3rdS-T-T-T-S-T-T · ousak

Lydian4thT-T-T-S-T-T-S

Mixolydian5thT-T-S-T-T-S-T · rast, descending form

Aeolian6thT-S-T-T-S-T-T · natural minor

Locrian7thS-T-T-S-T-T-T

Each mode's pattern is the major pattern started from another point.

03Bright and dark

The easiest way to remember them is to compare them with the two scales you know. Three sound major, because they have a major third: Ionian is the major scale itself, Lydian is major with a raised 4th (C Lydian: F♯), Mixolydian is major with a lowered 7th (C Mixolydian: B♭).

Three sound minor, with a minor third: Aeolian is the natural minor itself, Dorian is minor with a raised 6th (C Dorian: A instead of A♭), Phrygian is minor with a lowered 2nd (C Phrygian: D♭).

The seventh, Locrian, has a minor third and also a diminished 5th, so its tonic chord is diminished and never settles. In practice it is rarely heard as the scale of a piece.

C Lydian and C Mixolydian: the major scale with one note changed

From the same root, each mode differs from the major or the minor in one or two notes. That note is its colour.

04Modes and dromoi

Three of the seven you have already met under another name in the dromoi catalogue: Ionian is matzore, Phrygian is ousak, and Aeolian is the natural minor. Mixolydian is rast as it is played descending, with the lowered 7th all the way. The other three, Dorian, Lydian and Locrian, have no dromos twin (although some players refer to the Dorian as Kiourdi).

All seven are on the Scales tab of the 4-course and 3-course pages, in the family "Modes of the major scale", with the same views and fingerings as the dromoi.

Recap

The notes of the major scale from another degree give a mode: seven degrees, seven modes.
Major-sounding: Ionian (the major scale), Lydian (♯4), Mixolydian (♭7).
Minor-sounding: Aeolian (the natural minor), Dorian (♮6), Phrygian (♭2).
Locrian: minor with a diminished 5th, rare as the scale of a piece.
Ionian = matzore, Phrygian = ousak, Aeolian = natural minor, Mixolydian = rast descending.