Modal Theory will help us understand how the relationship between

scales, and how they work as one to make our music.  The reason they

are called "modes" is they are not actually completely diffrent scales,

but diffrent "modes" of the same scale. If I'm confusing you don't

worry I'll explain some of this later.

 You should familiarize yourself with the names of the 7 modes and I

think it helps if you memorize them and in order.

  THEY ARE(IN ORDER)

    1.  Ionian    (i-o-nee-in)
    2.  Dorian    (door-e-in)
    3.  Phrygian    (fridge-e-in
    4.  lydian    (lid-e-in)
    5.  Mixolydian    (mix-o-lid-e-in)
    6.  Aeolian    (a-o-lee-in)
    7.  Locrian    (low-cree-in)

  Imo I would say these over and over until you have them down in order

 ok on to "constructing Keys". Basically "key construction is giving a

name to each one of the chromatic notes in any chosen key. There are

twelve chromatics there will be twelve steps in key construction.(ok

sidebar here you need to know what an interval is(the distance of steps

 between two notes)).

ok to confuse you even more what we have is a bunch of intervals, each

with their own name.***Every chromatic note in the key we are in will

have it's own name and some type of designation as to what kind of note

it is. you'll have 4 major notes,4 minor notes,2 called perfects and 1

diminished. Oh yeah the ones called perfect are Major also though.

The Twelve intervals in key contsruction go like this:

    *root
    *minor 2nd
    *Major 2nd
    *Minor 3rd
    *Major 3rd
    *perfect 4th
    *Dimineshed 5th
    *Perfect 5th
    *Minor 6th
    *Major 6th
    *Minor 7th
    *Major 7th
    *Root (octave) 0r 8va

these steps will help name any note in an octave that we need and will

show us where the ionian mode comes from.

Ionian mode is also known as the Major scale.

lesson 2 oh boy


Most of you know the Do Re Mi Fa So La Ti Do  thing that they teach you

in grade shcool. That scale is the Ionian or Major scale. It has a

certain sound to it. I'll now explain how this scale is built from our

12 steps of Key construction. We start on the Root and use all of the

"major intervals". So no matter what key we are in. if we use the root,

major 2nd, major 3rd, perfect 4th, perfect 5th, major 6th, major 7th

and then the root again we have just made the Ionian mode or
major scale.


 
  Key Construction____________Major Intervals_________Ionian Mode

1. Root ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~> Root ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~> DO
2. Minor 2nd
3. Major 2nd ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~> Major 2nd ~~~~~~~~~~~> RE
4. Minor 3rd
5. Major 3rd ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~> Major 3rd ~~~~~~~~~~~~> MI
6. Perfect 4th ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~> Perfect 4th ~~~~~~~~~~~> FA
7. Diminished 5th
8. Perfect 5th ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~> Perfect 5th ~~~~~~~~~~~> SO
9. Minor 6th
10. Major 6th ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~> Major 6th ~~~~~~~~~~~> LA
11. Minor 7th
12. Major 7th ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~> Major 7th ~~~~~~~~~~~> TI
1. Root (octave) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~> Root ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~> DO

now that we have built the Ionian mode we take a look at it's

construction of intervals. If you start at the root note and go to the

next note the major 2nd, this interval is a whole step(each of the 12

notes being 1/2 steps). Then we do another whole step(maj2nd to

maj3rd). Then from the major 3rd to the perfect 4th we only go 1/2 step

 
 If you look at the intervals(steps) they go like this

      Whole,whole ,Half,Whole Whole, Whole, Half

you can play this pattern starting on any note(key) and it will always

be the Ionioan mode.

  here is an example of how this works:

   some smarty guy says lets play this song in the key of A ok so I'm

just startin out don't know the notes of the major scale in this key

but I read the earlier stuff (yay). So I think I can figure this out.

  1st  lay out all 12 notes  A,A#,B,C,C#,D,D#,E,F,F#,G,G#, and A


  Finding The Ionian Mode Using Key Construction :

Chromatics____________Major Intervals_________Ionian Mode (key of A)

1. A ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~> Root ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~> A
2. A#
3. B ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~> Major 2nd ~~~~~~~~~~~~~> B
4. C
5. C# ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~> Major 3rd ~~~~~~~~~~~~~> C#
6. D ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~> Perfect 4th ~~~~~~~~~~~~> D
7. D#
8. E ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~> Perfect 5th ~~~~~~~~~~~~> E
9. F
10. F# ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~> Major 6th ~~~~~~~~~~~~> F#
11. G
12. G# ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~> Major 7th ~~~~~~~~~~~~> G#
1. A (octave) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~> Root ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~> A

So now we know our major scale notes for the key of A :

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

so as long as you use the interval pattern for the Ionian mode, you can

always find the notes for the Ionian mode in any key.

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

 Ok if your with me so far your doing good (alot of you already know

this stuff). Now to go on the the other 7 Modes.

 Back to Grade school again DO,RE,MI,FA.SO,LA,TI.DO Ionaian mode again.
 steps are  w,w,h,w,w,w,h (I'm going to add something here) most

musicains use a numbering system that has been in place for centuries.

DO=I, RE=II, MI=III, FA=IV, SO=V, LA=VI,TI=VII or just 1,2,3,4,5,6,7
 
 what happens if we start on RE and end with the next Re?

RE,MI,FA,SO,LA,TI,DO,AND RE. lets look at the interval pattern of this
it's W,H,W,W,W,H,W. This is the interval pattern for the Dorian mode

Ionian mode is W,W,H,W,W,W,H
Dorian mode is W,H,W,W,W,H,W  if you start on MI(Phrygian) to MI it's H,W,W,W,H,W,W  and so on through the 7 steps or modes.

Do you remember all the mode names still?
Here is the seven modes and there interval patterns

Ionian        W,W,H,W,W,W,H    DO
Dorian        W,H,W,W,W,H,W    RE
Phrygian    H,W,W,W,H,W,W    MI
Lydian        W,W,W,H,W,W,H    FA
Mixolydian    W,W,H,W,W,H,W    SO
Aeolian        W,H,W,W,H,W,W    LA
Locrian        H,W,W,H,W,W,W    TI

i hope this helps some in learning your modes. I'll post more later.

you da man! keep it up!

ok I'm putting some more modal stuff here. It might be better to post a new thread not sure though.


Modal Theory again(yeah)
Ok what did we do last time? Oh yeah, we built the ionian mode and then  fomulated the 7 modes from that.

  Now for some more fun. Let's say someone asked you to play or write a song in E minor and for those of you who don't know this( I did not explain it last post). The Aeolian is also the natural minor scale.

root, maj2nd,flat3rd,perfect4th,perfect5,flat6th,flat7th.Root. or
whole step,half step,whole step,whole step,half step,whole step,whole step. W,H,W,W,H,W,W.

If you were to take the 7 notes and do the same thing again this is what you would have.

E     Aeolian
F#     Locrian
G     Ionian
A     Dorian
B      Phrygian
C     Lydian
D     Mixolydian

I know your thinking huh? Well look at it like this if you played the E minor chord you could play any of these modes over it. Some will sound stronger that others but they are all notes of the same scale just diffrent starting points.

 Got that, I hope.  Now to group the modes
 
Let's go back to the Ionian mode and number it 1-7

The 7 modal formulas are:

Ionian o sharps or flats               1    2    3    4    5    6    7    1
Dorian 2 flats                       1       2     b3      4      5      6    b7     1
Phrygian 4 flats                   1     b2     b3       4       5      b6    b7       1
lydian 1 sharp                       1       2       3     #4      5      6     7     1
Mixolydian 1 flat                  1      2      3      4      5      6    b7     1
Aeolian 3 flats                        1        2      b3       4       5      b6    b7     1
locrian 5 flats                         1       b2      b3       4      b5      b6    b7     1


Now lets say the same smarty guy says he wants to play A dorian.But your only know the A major scale/Ionian well with this table above you can figure out the a dorian mode. You know it'll start on A, then the Dorian mode has 2 flats, the 3rd and the 7th notes. So take the Ionian mode or major scale and flat the 3rd note  and the 7th note.

you can see the relationship of sharps and flats in the table above.

Now I like to group the modes in relationship to the amount of sharps or flats. This helps me understand what modes have what type of sounds.

I'm not changing the order of modes just grouping them by sharps or flats,


lydian    Ionian     Mixolydian    Dorian        Aolian         Phrygian            Locrian
 1       0            1                 2            3                    4                     5
 #         --           b                    bb           bbb             bbbb                bbbbb

now you can see the modes one step away form each other by sharps or flats.
By grouping the modes you can see it's not just meaninless crap but they start to fit together by tonal sounds(bright happy sounds to dark and dissident sounds.

So if you play the modes you will here the diffrent sounds.If you play them with sharp and flat groupings you can tell the brightes to the darkest.

Lydian: 1 sharp,very bright,upbeat
Ionian: no sharps or flats, very happy bright
Mixolydian: 1 flat in the middle but somewhat brighter sounding
Dorian: 2 flats, middle of the road mode
Aeolian: 3 flats, nice bluesy,warm mode
Phrygian: 4 flats,Dark sounding(lots of classical metal is done here)
Locrian: 5 flats, real dark mode

By Grouping the order of flats, it makes memorizing the modal formulas easier. Why is that you say? The modes that include flats, (5 of them) are really just the same  but with the added flats.

LYDIAN      #4      --      --      --      --      --      --
IONIAN         --     0/0     --     --     --     --     --
MIXOLYDIAN     --     --     b7     --     --     --     --
DORIAN         --     --     b7     b3     --     --     --
AEOLIAN     --     --     b7     b3     b6     --     --
PHRYGIAN     --     --     b7     b3     b6     b2     --
LOCRIAN     --     --     b7     b3     b6     b2     b5

So if you can remember the order that the flats come in, memorizing the modal formulas should be easier. Once you learn the order of flats, Hopefully this will make things clearer for you and help you understand what makes the modes similar and diffrent.

I'll post some more later  about formulating chords from modes and scales, and how to analyze chord progressions so you can figure out what scales and modes would work over them.

ps some of the tables I put up on this post didn't print out right

By using the information above try to see if you can figure out what mode this is.
pm me with your answers if you want

Thanks for helping to clear everything up a little for me man.
(I only wished they still tought that "Do Re Mi Fa So" thing in school)

P.S. that scale above is in Dorian mode

yup it's dorian