March 30

Musical Modes Beyond Major and Minor

While Western music emphasizes major and minor scales, seven modes offer different emotional colors. Dorian mode sounds melancholic yet hopeful, Phrygian sounds Spanish or Middle Eastern, Lydian sounds dreamy and ethereal, Mixolydian sounds bluesy. These modes dominated medieval music and are still used in jazz, folk, and film scores. Each mode is simply a major scale starting on a different note.