My take on the Greek Modes - a video

[Rusty the Scoob]

A lot of people haven't gotten the chance to study the Greek Modes. They can seem complicated, but that's only because there are so many different ways to look at them IMHO. By request on another board I made a video explaining them in two different ways, and I thought it would be worth sharing here as well:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKGTmodOYDQ

Here's a companion chart that I typed up that you can print out and follow along. http://www.mediafire.com/?2y0usp8fj5guscd and here's the text from it:



There are seven different scales that we know of as the Greek Modes, including the familiar Major and Minor scales. They can be looked at in several different ways - I'm going to walk you through them in two different ways:

First - they can be looked at as Modes of one particular scale - in this case modes of C major. A mode of a scale is generally defined as starting and stopping the scale on a different scale degree than the original tonic note. In practical terms, we'll go through all the modes in the same Key Signature as C Major - no sharps or flats. Those of you who are also following along on keyboard will have an especially easy time - all you have to do is play each scale on the white keys only.

This gives us:

C Major (Ionian): C D E F G A B C

D Dorian: D E F G A B C D

E Phrygian: E F G A B C D E

F Lydian: F G A B C D E F

G Mixolydian: G A B C D E F G

A Minor (Aeolian): A B C D E F G A

B Locrian: B C D E F G A B



They can also be looked at as alterations of a scale built on a given tonic. (a Tonic is just the name we give the note that the scale begins and ends on) In this case I'll use C Major as the starting point again, but this time I'll build all the seven modes on C as the common tonic.

I'm going to go through them in order from brightest-sounding to darkest-sounding. Each time I will subtract one sharp (#) or add one flat (b) to the key signature.

C Lydian - one sharp: C D E F# G A B C

C Major (Ionian) - no sharps or flats: C D E F G A B C

C Mixolydian - one flat: C D E F G A Bb C

C Dorian - two flats: C D Eb F G A Bb C

C Minor (Aeolian) - three flats: C D Eb F G Ab Bb C

C Phrygian - four flats: C Db Eb F G Ab Bb C

C Locrian - five flats: C Db Eb F Gb Ab Bb C


If you play through these, you'll see that they sound increasingly dark and evil, or more dissonant.

Have fun, and let me know if you have questions!

[MalcolmAmos]

Yes, well done. Appreciate you pointing out both ways of playing a mode. Suggest you develop a third segment to go with the other two. Show how to develop the characteristic mood of the mode by what chords are being played under the mode, i.e. the use of a modal vamp under the mode. You do point out that in the relative segment the sound never goes beyond the C major scale - which is correct, however, if you had a modal vamp or drone note under each of those modes you would then hear the characteristic mood of the mode.

This seldom gets talked about and is so important to the overall effect.

Good video and thanks for posting.

[dtiii]

Not to be pedantic, but to call this the Greek modal system is incorrect. It’s a concise and solid explanation of one facet of our present modal system, which stems out of the merging of two older systems – the ancient Greek modal system and the church modes of the Middle Ages. The two systems began to merge during the Renaissance with the theoretical works of Franchino Gaffurio (1451-1522) and others. The misconception that this is purely a Greek system lies in the names of the major scale modes. Indeed it can mislead someone into thinking that the ancient Greeks codified our present day system. It is a fascinating, yet complex, subject that cannot be thoroughly explained here only because of its depth. There are individuals in the world of academia who have devoted a good part of their life to the subject. For anyone interested, here are some primary sources for which translations exist:

Boethius – Fundamentals of Music
Aristoxenus – The Harmonics of Aristoxenus
The Euclidian Division of the Canon (anonymous treatise)
Hucbald – De institutione de musica
Guido of Arezzo – Micrologus

These primary sources are just a few that come to mind. There are more. There are also countless scholarly articles on the many subtopics involved. A good music history textbook, Grout or Hanning to name two, would also give a fairly indepth intro on the subject.

Please know that I’m not trying to step on the info here. I think it’s a great lesson for anyone who plays and wants a solid intro to our present modal system. I just feel that the perspective of our direction should be correctly informed when teaching.

Best,
d

[Rusty the Scoob]

You are absolutely right, D. I fail Music History! I've heard these called the Greek Modes so many times that I'd completely forgotten that the actual Greek Modes were totally different scales.

I should put a disclaimer in the description. How about this?

"Note: these scales, while commonly called the Greek Modes should more acurately be referred to by their other common name of the Church Modes, as the actual scales of the same names in ancient Greece were very different. The scales in the video are believed to have originated around the time of the Rennaisance."