A la Modes!

Matt McConeghy 4/2006

Chuck Morgan was explaining modes and I realized that life would be easier if I truly understood how this worked. So, thanks to Chuck I was motivated to work through this all step by step. I play lots of modal tunes, and just called them modal, without ever really knowing what that meant. So what does it mean?

You will probably run into "modal" when you start playing Celtic and Appalachian tunes. It's said that those genres use modes a lot because the roots of the tunes stretch back historically to the period before 1750 when modes were a common way to structure tunes. If you are mathematical, this stuff is a piece of cake, but if you are like most of us, you actually have to sit down and work it out. Preferably on a piano keyboard.

Here's a piano keyboard.

You probably remember that the white keys are named C-D-E-F-G-A-B-C and the black keys are the sharps/flats. There is a black key or sharp note between some keys but not between others. That means that the intervals between notes are not all the same. It is common to say that the interval between C and D is whole step, while the interval between B and C is only a half step. In other words, C and D are separated by the note C# while there is no black key/sharp note between B and C. Look at the diagram and see where the whole and half intervals come on the keyboard.

Modes are all about the intervals.

Modes are about the intervals between the notes. Although technically there are seven modes, in nearly all Celtic and American music, there are only four modes that are used. One is very common, the second is less common, and the other two are rare.

Three modes -Lydian, Phrygian and Locrian -are virtually never used. So forget them. By the way, all these pseudo-Greek names are totally bogus as far as Greeks are concerned, but they are historical in early modern Europe, so we are stuck with them.

Major or "Ionian Mode"

Ionian is the antique name for the most common, normal mode -- our regular everyday do-re-mi-fa-sol-la-ti-do, the "major" scale, just like we all know and are used to hearing. You can have a "major scale" that starts with any note, but in common folk, bluegrass or celtic music by far the most common starting notes are D, A, G or C.

So, then what makes a tune "major?" It is the intervals between the notes that make it "major."

The intervals in the major mode are the same as the intervals playing the sequence C to C on the white keys of the piano -- we would call that C major. When we check the keyboard, we see from the starting note C to the next note in the scale D, the interval C to D is a whole step with a black key in between. Then the next interval is D to E, a whole step with a key in between.. Then the next interval is E to F. That is not a whole step - there is no key between E and F so the interval is only a half interval. Counting all the intervals of full and half steps up the white keys from C to C we find the steps are W, W, H, W, W, W, H -- these are the intervals between notes in a "major" scale.

You can start on any note, but to have a major key, you have to keep the same intervals. W, W, H, W, W, W, H

If you want to play in, say D major, you start with the D note but you have to keep the same intervals . For instance, that means that the step between the second and third notes of the D major scale has to be a whole step. The notes have to be separated by a note in between. The second note is D - E, but the third note can't be F. It isn't separated by an intermediate note as required by the sequence. So instead of F you have to use the next note F#. The the following step has to be a half step, so you play D - E - F# - G... and so on.

You will wind up playing the notes D, E, F#, G, A, B, C#, D for the key of D major. Why? because those are the notes that fall on the major interval steps.

You are playing the major mode if you start on a note and find the next note up the scale according to that - W, W, H, W, W, W, H sequence. To play in A major, start with A and count the intervals. You get the notes A, B, C#, D, E, F# and G# as the notes of the A major scale. And you can do the same starting with any note.

Minor or "Aeolian Mode"

The next commonly heard mode is Aeolian, or what we normally call "minor."

It is the equivalent of starting on an A note and running up the white keys to the next A.

That means A, B, C, D, E, F, G, A or if we count off the intervals on the keyboard we see the sequence of whole and half steps

W, H, W, W, H, W, W.

If you play this set of notes A to A on the white keys you are playing in A minor.

This key is described as "relative to C" because it uses the same notes as the key of C major, but in this case, instead of starting and ending on C, you start and end on A. It is an amazing quirk of the human ear and mind that this series of notes with this set of intervals sounds "sad" or "dark" or "lonely", in contrast to playing the exact same set of notes starting and ending on C.

Some minor key tunes are Coleraine (Am), Dancing Bear (Em), Evit Gabriel (Em), Far Away (Bm), Indian Point (Em), Rights of Man(Em), Doon the Brae(Am) , Bus Stop Reel(Am) and Sligo Creek (Bm).

You can play a minor key scale that starts on any note you want, but in our music, the common starting notes for minor scales are A, E, or B. Playing in A minor means using the same notes as in C major. Playing in E minor means using the same notes as in G major.

Consider if you were to play in E minor.

First, remember that if you played a scale of "E major" the major intervals

W, W, H, W, W, W, H would result in the notes

E, F#, G#, A, B, C#, D#, E.

But if you start on the note E to play an "E minor" scale using the minor intervals

W, H, W, W, H, W, W, the notes would be

E, F#, G, A, C, D, E .

Ummm...wait, yes, that's the same notes you use in playing in the key of G. Lots of people know that the minor key "relative to" C is A minor and the minor key "relative" to G is E minor. OK, now we know why.

When you look at written music, there is usually a notation at the left of the staff that shows what notes in that tune should be played as sharps. So, if you are playing in G major, there will be a sharp sign on the line of the note F to tell you to play F# whenever there is an F note. Most players have noticed that tunes in G major will often start on a G note and will almost always end on a G note. The "home note" of the key is the G note. But, what if you look at a staff and it is marked as G major, but the tune starts and ends on an E note? It might not even have a G note in the tune. Well, the best guess is, the tune is probably in "E minor."

Modal Tunes

The two other modes that are useful to know about are "Mixolydian" and "Dorian." Some interesting music is written in these modes… like say, "Norwegian Wood", "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald", the theme from "Star Wars" and a lot of old time fiddle tunes and ancient ballads.

Mixolydian "Modal"

"Mixolydian" is almost the same as "major" but has a minor 7 th -- that means the 7 th note in the scale is flat. So here are two ways to think about this. First, you can play a scale starting on C up the white keys to the next C, only when you get to the B you play the black key Bb instead of B natural, like this: C, D, E, F, G, A, Bb, C. Or, you get the same effect by starting on a G note and playing all the white keys up to the next G, that is, G, A, B, C, D, E, F, G. It's all about the intervals, remember.

In both these cases, you are actually playing a sequence of notes with the whole and half steps between them

W, W, H, W, W, H, W.

So, "G major" is G A B C D E F# G

and "G mixolydian" is G A B C D E F G

Say we look at the Portland Collection tunebook and see a new tune we haven't played before - "Tom Billy's Jig". We commonly guess the key of a tune by paying attention to what note it starts or ends on. So, we would be quickly tempted to see this tune as in the Key of A (that is, A major) because it starts and ends on an A note. Ummm... wait, the signature on the staff is two sharps (D major), not three (A major). What the heck!

This tune has a has a funny quirk, it isn't like a regular tune in the key of A major which would have A, B, C#, D, E, F#, G#, A - instead the G note is played G natural - a half step lower than in a regular A major scale. So in the Portland book they notate the staff with a signature of only two sharps as if it was in D. What's going on here? Is it in A or D? Neither. That is, it is not in A major or D major, despite what note it starts on and what sharps are on the staff.

OK, so we sit down at the piano and pick out the notes. The signature tells us to play the notes of the key of D, but we aren't starting on a D note, instead we're starting on A, so we play the notes up the D scale, but start on the A note -- namely: A, B, C#, D, E, F#, G, A -

See what happens. It sounds odd. Not like a D major tune at all. Cool! the intervals we are playing from the starting note up and down to the home note are:

W, W, H, W, W, H, W.

What do you call that key, "A modal"? Yeah, but specifically, it is A mixolydian.

This is the mode of a tune that many of us play, "June Apple." We start the tune on A but we don't play a regular A major scale, instead we play C# and F# but not the G#. We substitute G natural and the result is that we get that haunting melancholy "A modal" sound.

Other common tunes in this mode are "Dinky's Reel" and "Redhaired Boy (Little Beggarman").

This can all be very confusing for accompanists. Little Beggarman starts with that emphatic E note, has an emphatic G in the fourth measure, and ends on an emphatic A note. It has C# and D# but no G#. The chords turn out to be A, D, G, with E7. And June Apple in A mixolydian is usually chorded with just A and G in the first part that starts and ends with A notes, and A and G chords in the second part which starts with a C note and ends with the A note (and possibly a quick passing D chord in the fourth measure. Or not? depending on how the lead instrument phrases things. Hahaha! That's the fun part, deciding that.)

Dorian "Modal"

Dorian uses the intervals W, H, W W, W, H, W.

That's the equivalent of starting on a D key and playing up the white keys to the next D.

This includes a minor third and minor 7 th. What? Well, If you were playing a D major scale you would play with two sharps, D, E, F#, G, A, B, C#, D and there would be two sharps marked on the staff of the music.

But in this case, for D dorian we start on the D and play D, E, F, G, A, B, C, D. The "third" is made D-E-F instead of D-E-F# and the "7 th" is the C instead of C#. That is D dorian

And then other keys are made with the same intervals, like, A dorian would be the same but starting on an A note instead of a D, eh? If you started an A major scale it would be

A-B-C#-D-E-F#-G#-A

but for a A dorian you would have to play

A, B, C, D, E, F#, G, A.

That is, the third is C instead of C# and the 7 th is G instead of G#.

So, if you were playing a tune that was written in the A dorian mode, like "Ducks on the Pond" in the Portland Collection, then in the written music the staff would probably show just a F# (key signature of G major) and you might get fooled and think it was a tune in G major. Oops! Only you would be able to figure it out because the tune would start and stop on A despite the one sharp (G major) signature printed on the staff.

Other "dorian" tunes are Old Grey Cat, Ballydesmond Polka, Brenda Stubbert's Reel, Cliffs of Moher, Morrison's Jig, Peeler and the Goat, Road to Lisdoonvarna, Ships are Sailing and Swallowtail Jig.

Variations

There are so many terrific tunes that involve fiddling around with these "modal" choices.

A commonly played tune is "Drowsy Maggie" which starts and stops on an E note in the first part, with C# and F# notes and no D# or G#. That makes it E dorian, so the accompanist has to figure out that it needs E minor and D chords. Then the second part of the tune starts and stops on D and has C# and F# notes, that's D major, so the accompanist probably will play D A G as the chords. The tune switches from E dorian to D major - that is, it uses the same notes in the scale in both parts, but the starting note and tune "home" note is different, that is, the note that the tune "wants" to end on is different: E in the first part and D in the second part.

Another tune that jumps modes is "Falls of Richmond" which starts with two A minor parts, then goes to A major , then back to A minor in the fourth part. Each part starts on E and ends on A but the chords shift from Am and G in the minor part to A and E in the major part.

If we were playing the great Canadian tune "Growling Old Man and Grumbling Old Woman", the growling low part would be played starting on the low A and with C, F and G notes instead of C#, F# and G#. That makes it "A minor." The accompanist would use Am and G as the chords. Then on the high part of the tune, the mode switches. It's still A but instead of A minor (aeolian) , it is A modal (mixolydian) with a C# and F# but still a G natural. So now the accompanist uses an A chord and G chord. (and there are a couple accidental C notes thrown in instead of C# in the second phrase, just to confuse everyone!). If you have an accompanist who picks up on this tune right away then you know that they are really listening or really well trained, or both.

Figuring all this out takes some practice, but every once in a while you will play with some guitar or banjo player at a jam who will hear a new tune once, and then call out the chords to the other accompanists on the fly. I've been told that this is easy when you know how the modes work and you can immediately pick out the key and mode. Then the chords are automatic. I guess everything is easy when you know how, but I really admire someone who can do that!

Chuck got me inspired so now I'm going to keep working on this until I get it right. You are probably thinking, this is all a terrible headache! But the thing is, it's the music!! That's the way some genius wrote those great tunes. It's the way they HAD to be written to come out right. If you learn the tunes by ear then you can do this all by instinct or, you can take the stance that all of this makes no difference whatsoever and can be totally ignored. On the other hand, if you understand modes and recognize what's happening, it can make learning (and especially, learning accompaniment for) the tunes way easier.

Summary and some Challenges:

Work through this...

OK, here's a good exercise. Prove to yourself that...

Here's another item to puzzle through... This is a great tune from the excellent tunebook, the Portland Collection

So, this tune starts on a D note and finishes on a D note in the first part, and starts on F and finishes on D in the second part. But it is F natural, not F#, so the key can't be D major. And there are C naturals (with some accidental C#'s) . The staff is annotated with a flatted B, so that would be the key signature for the key of F. But to make matters confused, there are no B notes in the melody. You can think of it as a D major scale with the 3rd and 7th flatted.

Why bother to put in a staff signature marking the Bflat (key of F major) if there are no B notes? You might just as well have no flats or sharps noted, yes? But if the staff signature is Fmajor and the tune starts and stops on the D note, that is a tip-off that the key is Dm, the minor relative to F. If you didn't mark the B note as flatted, then you could still read the tune and play it correctly, but if you tried to figure out your own chords or improvise, you would get confused because the lack of the Bflat signal might leave you in D dorian rather than D minor. The person writing the notation is just trying to give us a break!

What difference would it make to the chords? Not much. In fact, in old time recordings the accompanists sometimes just played major chords on top of tunes like this.