One scale, seven centres of gravity.
Overview
The seven diatonic modes — the rotations of the major scale, each starting on a different degree and shifting the centre of gravity while keeping the same notes. Each note in this folder gives the mode's interval formula, its characteristic tone, and where it turns up in practice.
Read brightest to darkest: Lydian hovers an inch off the ground with its raised fourth; Ionian is the major scale itself, the white light before the prism; Mixolydian is major with the top button undone. Then the minor-leaning half: Dorian keeps one window open to the light through its natural sixth, Aeolian is the natural minor telling the plain truth of sadness, Phrygian opens a door onto something older and darker, and Locrian — the house built without a foundation — flattens both the second and the fifth.
Related
- Scales & Modes — the parent index
- Scales — the non-modal scales alongside these
- Musical Keys — the keys the modes are transposed into