Church modes

Build a scale on each white key of the piano, using only white keys, and the two semitones fall on different degrees every time. Each of those placements is a mode, and each has an old name. Starting on D, the mode is Dorian; on E, Phrygian; on F, Lydian; on G, Mixolydian (Lacerda 1966, ch. XXXV).

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The first degree of a mode, the note it is built on and the note its melodies end on, is called its final (Lacerda 1966, ch. XXXV).

Names from the Church, borrowed from Greece

These modes were the basis of the liturgical music of the Middle Ages, and so they are called church modes, liturgical modes or ecclesiastical modes. Another name, Gregorian modes, comes from the tradition that credits Pope Gregory I, in the sixth century, with organising the Church's chant (Lacerda 1966, ch. XXXV).

The names Dorian, Phrygian and the rest are Greek, but the resemblance stops at the names. The ancient Greek modes started on other notes and were thought of descending; the medieval modes were built ascending, on different finals (Med 1996, ch. XXVI). Blatter is blunter: the names were borrowed and have no relationship to the Greek system (Blatter 2007, part 2, art. 7).

The seven, side by side

Mode	Final	Semitones between	Third
Dorian	D	II–III and VI–VII	minor
Phrygian	E	I–II and V–VI	minor
Lydian	F	IV–V and VII–VIII	major
Mixolydian	G	III–IV and VI–VII	major
Aeolian	A	II–III and V–VI	minor
Ionian	C	III–IV and VII–VIII	major
Locrian	B	I–II and IV–V	minor

The placements are Lacerda's definitions (Lacerda 1966, ch. XXXV); the last column is Med's way of sorting them: a mode with a major third between I and III is a major mode, one with a minor third is a minor mode (Med 1996, ch. XXVI).

Four, six or seven

The books do not agree on how many church modes there are, and the reason is history.

The Church's own modes were built on four finals: Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian and Mixolydian. Blatter calls them the sacred modes; with the second, lower form each of them had, the subject of the next topic, they make eight. Aeolian and Ionian, on A and C, he calls secular modes, considered unfit for worship (Blatter 2007, part 2, art. 7). Med places their appearance in the sixteenth century (Med 1996, ch. XXVI). Lacerda tells the end of the story: at the close of the Middle Ages, art music came to prefer Ionian and Aeolian, and they ended up dominating under other names, the major mode and the minor mode (Lacerda 1966, ch. XXXV).

Locrian, on B, is where the counts split. Lacerda says it was introduced by theorists and seems never to have been used in practice, so he counts six modes (Lacerda 1966, ch. XXXV). Med lists it as a seventh mode, very little used because its structure differs from all the others (Med 1996, ch. XXVI). Blatter explains why: its final, B, has no perfect fifth above it, only the diminished fifth B–F, so medieval theory treated it as a theoretical mode that could not be used (Blatter 2007, part 2, art. 7).

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The note that gives a mode away

Remembering seven lists of semitones is not the easiest way to recognise a mode. Med offers a better one: compare the mode with the modern major or minor scale on the same final, the one that matches its third. There is always exactly one note that differs, the differential note, and the interval from the final to that note is the mode's characteristic interval (Med 1996, ch. XXVI).

Mode	Compared with	Characteristic interval
Dorian	natural minor	major sixth
Phrygian	natural minor	minor second
Lydian	major	augmented fourth
Mixolydian	major	minor seventh
Aeolian	natural minor	none
Ionian	major	none
Locrian	natural minor	two: minor second and diminished fifth

Take D Dorian and D natural minor. Everything matches except the sixth degree: B in Dorian, B flat in minor. That B is the "Dorian sixth".

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The same goes for the others. F Lydian is F major with a B natural instead of B flat, the "Lydian fourth". G Mixolydian is G major with an F natural instead of F sharp, the "Mixolydian seventh". E Phrygian is E minor with an F natural instead of F sharp, the "Phrygian second". Aeolian and Ionian have nothing to compare, since they are the natural minor and the major themselves (Med 1996, ch. XXVI).

This is also the practical way to think while playing. "Minor with a major sixth" is Dorian on any note, without having to work out which major scale it borrows its notes from.

On any note

The white-key versions are models, chosen because they need no accidentals. A mode can start on any note, as long as its semitones stay in place (Lacerda 1966, ch. XXXV). Dorian on G needs a B flat to put the semitone back between II and III:

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The idea is old. Once the flat sign was in use, Renaissance musicians wrote transposed modes, with a B flat and every final a fourth higher: Dorian on G, Phrygian on A, Lydian on B flat, Mixolydian on C (Blatter 2007, part 2, art. 7).

Heard through the centre

A mode only sounds like itself when its final is heard as the centre. Play the white keys from D to D over a C major chord and the ear hears C major; play them over a D minor chord and the same notes sound Dorian.

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D minor seventh moving to G major, and back: the G chord carries the B natural, the Dorian sixth of D. Swap that chord for G minor, with a B flat, and the same progression turns Aeolian. In modal music, it is the harmony underneath that keeps saying which note is the final.

Where the modes live

Art music left Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian and Mixolydian behind, but they survived in the folk music of many countries, and Lacerda notes that some composers of his own day used them systematically (Lacerda 1966, ch. XXXV).

Med collects Brazilian examples, most of them from the Northeast: a Dorian reisado from Pernambuco; a cantiga de cego and a cowherd's aboio in Lydian; Mixolydian tunes from Pernambuco folklore, from the viola de arame of the sertão and from a Paraíba embolada; and an Aeolian baião de viola (Med 1996, ch. XXVI).

Blatter notes the same rediscovery in folk, jazz, pop and rock, now including Locrian, and with any note allowed as the final (Blatter 2007, part 2, art. 7). Mixolydian is the sound of a major chord with a minor seventh, everywhere in rock and blues. Dorian is the minor of much modal jazz. Lydian's raised fourth gives a major chord an open, floating quality, and Phrygian's lowered second is the dark colour many listeners associate with flamenco.

What comes next

The modes on this page are all in one form. In medieval chant each mode also had a second form, with the same final but a melody lying lower, spread on both sides of the final: the authentic and plagal modes.