Dance music theory expert Oliver Curry introduces the concept of modes and explains why they’re relevant to electronic music.
In this edition of Passing Notes, we’re looking at modes. Modes are often seen as one of the trickier musical concepts to get to grips with, but once the basic theory clicks into place you’ll see that it’s very easy to introduce them to your compositions and create distinctive melodic feels.
Here we’ll examine some of the more frequently use modes in dance music, show how they’re constructed and see what effect they have on the sound of tracks. We’ll take a look at examples from Todd Terje and Kryptic Minds to see how modes can work in practice.
What is a mode?
Firstly, let’s define modes. Modes can be seen as scales derived from the notes of the major scale, but starting at different intervals in that scale. If that sounds confusing, don’t worry – most musicians find modes a little tricky to get their head round at first. Keep reading and things should begin to make more sense.
We’ll take the C major scale as our starting point, simply because sticking to all the white keys on our keyboard can make things a little easier to follow!
So, playing an octave of notes in the C major scale, starting and ending on C, will give you a mode known as Ionian (in the key of C). However, if we start and end our progression at different intervals of the same scale, we get the following modes, now in their respective keys:
1 – C – Ionian
2 – D – Dorian
3 – E – Phrygian
4 – F – Lydian
5 – G – Mixolydian
6 – A – Aeolian
7 – B – Locrian
So, for example, E, F, G, A, B, C, D, E is a Phrygian mode in E, whereas F, G, A, B, C, D, E, F will give you a Lydian mode in F. As we’ll see shortly, these modes can then be transposed up and down to play them in different keys. So, if we transposed every note in the E Phrygian mode down four semitones, we’d have C Phrygian.
The four modes we’ll be looking at here are the most common: Ionian, Aeolian, Phrygian and Mixolydian.
You can see how each mode transposes into other keys using interactive online tools such as this one from Musicopedia.
Ionian Mode
The Ionian mode is instantly recognisable as a standard major scale.
In C, the notes of the Ionian mode are C, D, E, F, G, A, B, C. It sounds and looks like this:
Its ‘happy’ sound is largely characterised by its major 3rd, but the major 7th (both highlighted in red) is also important, especially in a lot of dance music where major 7 chords are frequently used.
Dance music is very rarely written in a major key. However, every major key has a relative minor (Aeolian mode) using all the same notes. This means that chord progressions in a minor key could easily have a melody in a major key over the top.
We can hear an example of this below. We’ve played a very recognisable melody in a C major key, then repeated it over a simple chord progression in C major’s relative minor key, A minor. This completely changes the context and feel of the original melody:
Aeolian Mode
Probably the most commonly used mode in dance music, the Aeolian mode forms the natural minor scale. As we can see from the list above, it starts at the 6th interval of the major scale.
Played in C, the notes of the Aeolian mode are C, D, Eb, F, G, Ab, Bb, C.
It sounds like this:
It’s largely characterised by its minor 3rd and minor 7th, in this case the Eb and Bb (highlighted in red), giving it its darker harmonic quality.
Phrygian Mode
Next up, let’s look at the Phrygian scale. As we can see from the list above, we can work out the different intervals of the Phrygian mode by playing a C major scale from E to E.
We can then transpose these intervals to C to make the comparison to the other scales easier, the notes here being C, Db, Eb, F, G, Ab, Bb, C.
Aside from the flattened 2nd, it is identical to the Aeolian mode / natural minor scale. It is this flattened 2nd, highlighted in red, which gives the Phrygian scale its distinctive ‘Eastern’ sound.
Phrygian Mode Case Study: Kryptic Minds – ‘Organic’
For a great example of the Phrygian mode in practice, let’s listen to the opening of ‘Organic’ by Kryptic Minds, taken from the album One Of Us. The eastern flute solo that opens the track is in a G Phrygian mode.
Along with the instrumentation and the use of reverb, the Phrygian mode helps give the intro its Eastern sound, setting the tone for the track’s dark, minor and almost sinister quality. Listen out for the Ab in particular at 0:47, which defines it as being in a Phrygian mode rather than the Aeolian mode.
09.34 AM
Another awesome column!
11.50 AM
Thank you so much for this article !
02.11 PM
I’m so glad I found this site. Thanks again for another interesting article!
02.59 PM
those this modes had thier own harmony progressions, or i can use them over any minor or major “functional” harmony??
thanks for this column, its great to discuss on this matter and the magazine is great. thanks!!
09.49 AM
Hey Julian,
Yes, the modes will have slightly different chord progressions depending on any flattened / sharpened notes in the mode.
For instance, if we’re using a Phrygian mode in A, the 2nd interval of the scale will be Bb, rather than the B we have as the 2nd interval of the natural minor scale.
This means that the 2nd triad chord we can make from an A Phrygian mode will be a Bb major triad (Bb, D, F) rather than the B diminished triad (B, D, F) that we’d get from the natural minor scale.
Hope this helps!
Cheers,
Oliver
09.02 PM
Great site. please keep up the good work!
11.38 AM
thanks for the response oliver. it did helps a lot.
cheers.
08.13 PM
This tutorial is a real gem. Amazing.
06.59 PM
This is the best explanation of modes I’ve ever read.
12.01 PM
All your music theory explanations (not just this one) are so helpful and well done! It confirms a lot of stuff I have been doing intuitively by trial and error, but it also gives me inspiration for composing new and better music! So thanks!
05.13 PM
I really like your explanations on theory but just wished they go a bit further. Its just a bit brief and at a basic level generally available…I dont mean to be strongly critical but just that it seems like you guys have the understanding to discuss a lot more and Id love to read more…
05.41 PM
Steve – thanks for the feedback. There’s obviously a fine line between something which is too basic to be useful and something which is too advanced for some people to understand. We know that a lot of dance producers don’t have any background in theory so we want to make sure we don’t turn anybody off by jumping straight in at the deep end. As we continue with this series we’ll certainly be looking at some more advanced theory and getting deeper into some of the ideas we’ve already discussed. We hope you’ll stick with us.
08.42 PM
I have been trawling the web for some good dance music production help for a while now but yours is by far the best. Clear and concise, gets the point across exactly how it should be done. Thank you very much.
I would like to echo that i want to see more advanced stuff having a strong background in music theory being classically trained. I have just found it very hard making the jump into making dance music. Whilst i have been an avid listener for many years now i have never known where to start. But so many of your tutorials are so helpful and i can’t wait to see more. Keep it up!
03.06 PM
Clear and simple, perfect for begginers!
Greetings from Spain!
08.21 PM
Great article, I think its the best break down I read so far.
Keep it up
12.04 PM
Thank you very much for this, this is very useful for me. What a great site, so much inspiring articles. Im a beginner and this anwsers allot of questions for me.
Thanks!
Greetings from Holland
08.46 PM
Best site ever
04.44 AM
I experimented myself one month ago improvising with modes over a constant drone bass note, and found that in that context, mixolydian sounded very much like celtic music, phrygian was more like arab / sinister thing, dorian sounded like in your face rock solos… i think it was a very nice exercise to do, i recommend everybody to do it!
Your article is very good and gave me another great take on the subject, thank you very much!
10.48 AM
Amazing side and tutorials. Big thx !!
04.45 PM
thanxs! this was inspiring!
10.36 PM
I know this is an old article and all, but isn’t the last picture Mixolydian rather than Ionian (because of the Bb) ? i’m new to music theory so maybe i’m missing something :> this is a great website btw <3
01.27 PM
Great tutorial. Are the last set of audio files correct though?
Mixolydian and Lonian sound exactly the same. Aeolian and Phrygian do too.
I even laid both pairs on top of each other in Live and they sound identical when played together, no notes clash or harmonize differently.
01.40 PM
Ah nevermind hear it now.
08.38 PM
This is really kick-ass stuff! Respect!
Thank you for this kind of content!
Keep it up.
04.03 PM
Lads,
Can you explain this a bit more clearly please? Not making sense to me.
‘Because of this, the same chord fits nicely over the D in the bassline, the synth changing to an Eb major 7 over the Eb in the bass. ‘
B
09.23 PM
I have an exam tomorrow and you saved my life! thank you!
09.32 PM
Hi Attack,
Can I ask something that is pretty stupid (probably) –
But in the context of a track that is composed solely in the minor key, by default that’s in Aeolian, right? Unless you employ one of the more complex minor modes, if you just pick up the C minor scale to make melody and chords from, that’s by default Aeolian – am i right in thinking that?
Just trying to string together the important for minor scales for dance music and the Aeolian mode mentioned in this article.
Cheers!
03.11 PM
Hello Attack,
Thank you so much for this very simply explained article. Being a beginner I found it rather easy to understand. Greetings from Calcutta INDIA.
04.37 PM
What’s the practical difference between saying e.g. C Aeolian and the D# major scale? are the accompanying chords different in some way? I think I’m missing something valuable here! Thanks!
02.13 AM
Ionian mode mode cheesy?,this is the problem with all of you guys who study music theory to the nth degree,and believe the text books,this is a classic quote from them,do you think the audience is going to hear that as “cheesy”?,of course not!