Aeolian (natural minor) .......................................................................
Figure 6-11 shows the A Aeolian mode. To build an Aeolian scale on another
other note, the pattern you’d use is WHWWHWW.This should also look familiar to you — it is the whole-step, half-step pattern
we use to build minor scales today.The intervals of Aeolian mode create the same feel as many modern blues
songs. Songs composed in Aeolian mode have a strong sense of sadness. The
final note of an Aeolian scale feels resolved in a completely different sense
than the final note of the Ionian. If the Dorian mode reflects melancholy, the
Aeolian reflects despair.Locrian ...................................................................................................
Figure 6-12 shows the B Locrian mode. To build a Locrian scale on any other
note, you would use the pattern HWWHWWH.Locrian mode is considered to be so unstable that most composers consider
it unworkable. There are few songs written in the Locrian mode, which has
led some music theorists to label it a “theoretical” mode. You find it occa-
sionally used in heavy metal. This mode exists because all seven notes of
the Ionian scale could form it in a mathematical sense, but the relationship
between intervals in the Locrian mode is difficult for many composers to
work with. Music that is composed within this mode sounds unsettling, dis-
turbing, and just a little bit off. Listen to the synthesizer melody at the begin-
ning of Rush’s “YYZ” for an example, or try playing “Three Blind Mice” in a
Locrian mode — it sounds like incidental music from a Tod Browning film.&4
(^4) œ œ œ œ œ œ
œ œ œ œ œ
œ œ œ ̇
Figure 6-11:
The Aeolian
mode can
convey
great
sorrow,
regret, and
despair.
Chapter 6: Scales and Modes, Moods and Melodies 63