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Music Theory: The Modes (Spelling Using Chromatic Alteration)

655 views · Published 16 February 2018 · 10:06 · Indexed 25 October 2026

Channel: Scott Watson · 2018 · Music

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This video presents a method for spelling modes using existing knowledge of major and minor scales.

The modes - sometimes called "church modes" due to their use in early Christian plainsong ("Gregorian chant") - can best be thought of as having more nuanced shadings of tonal color than the more "black and white" major and minor scales known by most modern ears. With major and minor you have opposite ends of the spectrum from light to dark, but with the modes you have colorful shades in between! Therefore, in this video I explain the modes in terms of how they differ from the major and minor scales. I do this for two reasons:

1) Assuming you know your major and minor scales, this is an easy way to learn how the various modes are constructed since it uses knowledge you already posses.

2) It gets at the essence of how modes should be heard - as being slightly brighter than a major scale, or slightly darker than a major scale (but not as dark as a minor scale), etc. In other words, it demonstrates the rich, colorful spectrum that is modal music!

If you are interested in hearing a thoughtful discussion of modes and their place in music and music composition, please check out the episode, "Modal vs. Tonal," from my occasional podcast, "What Music Means to Me": 
https://www.podomatic.com/podcasts/whatmusicmeans/episodes/2015-03-07T08_50_35-08_00

Dr. Scott Watson teaches in the School of Music at Cairn University (Langhorne, PA). To investigate how YOU can unlock your musical talents at this Philadelphia-area Christian liberal arts university, please visit: https://cairn.edu/worship-music-ma-online/?utm_source=YouTube&utm_medium=Video&utm_campaign=MAWorshipMusic&utm_id=Watson25

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