Theory · glossary
Mode
Also called musical mode, church modes, diatonic modes
A mode is a scale made by playing the major scale from a different starting note and treating that note as home. On the white keys, D to D is Dorian, E to E Phrygian, F to F Lydian, G to G Mixolydian, A to A Aeolian (natural minor) and B to B Locrian.
There are seven modes, one for each note of the major scale. C to C on the white keys is Ionian, the major scale itself. Here are all seven, sorted from brightest to darkest:
| Mode | White keys | Compared with major | Mood |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lydian | F to F | raised 4th | Dreamy, floating |
| Ionian | C to C | the major scale | Bright, settled |
| Mixolydian | G to G | flat 7th | Major but bluesy |
| Dorian | D to D | flat 3rd and 7th | Minor, a little hopeful |
| Aeolian | A to A | flat 3rd, 6th, 7th | Natural minor, sad |
| Phrygian | E to E | flat 2nd, 3rd, 6th, 7th | Dark, Spanish-tinged |
| Locrian | B to B | flat 2nd, 3rd, 5th, 6th, 7th | Unstable, rarely used as home |
Every row uses the same seven notes. What changes is the home note, the tonic, and that moves where the half steps fall around it.
So playing D to D on the white keys with nothing underneath often sounds like C major started in the wrong place. A mode needs its home note held down, with a drone on D or a chord loop that keeps landing on Dm, before the Dorian sound comes through.
The other way to hear modes is to keep the tonic and change the notes. C Mixolydian is C D E F G A Bb C, C major with the seventh lowered. C Lydian is C D E F# G A B C, C major with the fourth raised. Over a held C in the bass, each one-note change is easy to hear.
The names come from ancient Greek peoples and places (the Dorians, Phrygia, Lydia), but the scales they label today come from medieval church music theory, which is why they are also called church modes. They do not match the ancient Greek scales of the same names. Ionian and Aeolian were added later, by the Swiss theorist Heinrich Glarean in 1547. Other scales have modes too (Phrygian dominant is harmonic minor played from its fifth note), but “the modes” nearly always means these seven.
Gelato Synth and Gelato Chord both offer Dorian, Mixolydian and Lydian as scales, next to major and minor. The 7 music modes by mood takes them one at a time, and 12 scales that sound Egyptian, Spanish, spooky or dreamy sorts more scales by mood.
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