APPENDIX 4 MODES
The music of Europe from the Middle Ages to the end of the Renaissance (from the Fall of Rome in 476 to around
1600) was based on a system of scales called modes; we identify this music as “modal music.”Two of these
modes, the Ionian and Aeolian modes, continued to be used in Western music from around 1600 through much
of the nineteenth century, creating the major-minor system; we identify this music as “tonal music.”Beginning
in the late nineteenth century, composers began to use modes again as the basis of their pieces. Popular music
from the Middle Ages to the present, including folk and some jazz melodies, has roots in the modes.
There are seven modes. Notice that:
- Modes span an octave, beginning and ending on the same pitch.
- Each mode consists of a different arrangement of whole steps and half steps.
- Medieval theorists gave Greek names to the modes although they do not resemble Greek modes.
- The modes are written without accidentals. In practice, Medieval musicians added the Bb and later, other
accidentals, to avoid the tritone (A4 or d5). Adding accidentals contributed to the eventual breakdown of
the modal system.
Ionian mode (presently the major scale); has half steps between 3-4 and 7-8.
Dorian mode has half steps between 2-3 and 6-7.
Phrygian mode has half steps between 1-2 and 5-6.
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HS HSHS HSHS HS