These modes are good tools for writing tonalmusic (music that conforms to a
scale or mode and adheres to a tonal center or key). By limiting yourself to
notes within a particular mode — that is, notes that make some harmonic
sense together — you may find it easier to write something engaging for most
listeners. As we’ve said, your composition style is partly a product of your
limitations, and modes are limitations. Working within limitations can help
you define your style. It’s like tennis: It wouldn’t be as fun without the net and
the lines that define the court.When working with scales, keys, and modes, be aware of the character of the
mode choices you have made. Some modes and scales sound happy and
simple, and others sound foreign to the unexposed ear.There are also quite a few other scales and modes that are not used much
at all in Western music — and by Westernwe don’t mean cowboy campfire
songs, we mean European music and its descendents. Some non-Western
scales have pitches between our half steps called quarter tones. Some use
intervals that sound odd, or even out of tune to the Western ear. The subject
of modes and scales is a huge one, but if you intend to compose music where
a keyboard of some kind is involved, you probably won’t have any way of
conveying pitches in some of these exotic modes.The Pentatonic Scale .....................................................................................
There is one kind of scale that is fairly common throughout the world —
despite all the other musical differences among various cultures. That would
be the pentatonic scale, also called the five-toned scale. One can refer to a
major pentatonic scale or a minor pentatonic scale, but the notes of the
major scale are shared with the relative minor key.For example, Figure 6-13 shows a G major pentatonic scale, and Figure 6-14
shows the pentatonic scale of its relative minor, E minor.&4
(^4) œ œ œ œ œ
œ œ œ œ œ œ œ
œ œ ̇
Figure 6-12:
The Locrian
mode
sounds a bit
twisted and
wrong.
64 Part II: Melody and Development