Music Fundamentals A Balanced Approach

3. Mazurka, Op. 24, No. 2 (F. Chopin) (Originally written an octave higher.)

Transposing Modes

Modes originally were sung without any accidentals; on the keyboard, we would only use the white keys from
Cto C (Ionian), D to D (Dorian), and so forth. Just as major and minor scales may be played beginning on any
note (called transposition), modes may also be transposed to different pitches. There are two methods to
transpose modes: 1) using the arrangement of whole and half steps; 2) using the key signature.

First Method of Modal Transposition: Using Whole

and Half Steps

Begin by reviewing the arrangement of whole and half steps for each mode given at the beginning of this
appendix. For example, the Phrygian mode has half steps between 1 – 2 and 5 – 6. Notice the accidentals that
would be needed to create these half steps when the Phrygian mode begins on G, rather than E.

MODES

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Vocabulary

MAZURKA

Amazurka (“mazurek” in Polish), is a Polish dance in triple meter, usually with an accent on the second or third beat. It frequently

uses trills, triplets, two eighth notes followed by two quarter notes, or a dotted eighth followed by a sixteenth note. Like many

Polish folk songs, mazurkas are modal, usually Lydian. Chopin, whose mother was Polish, composed over 50 stylized mazurkas.

RITEN

(Italian: ritenuto)means ’held back’, to suddenly slow the tempo.

riten.

riten.