The make-your-own-ian mode, as the name implies, is a tongue in cheek way to label a scale of our own creations. Why would we want to do this? Well, is it possible that the existing types of scales we most commonly use have exhausted all of the intervalic possibilities and combinations within the 12 tone system? Of course not. Lets explore.
All of the scales we use to create the American sounds we love are designed within one octave, and that nearly all of these groups are exclusively created from combinations of just the half step and whole step intervals. The only exceptions to the above range / interval guidelines are the five note pentatonic colors and the blues scale. Compare the three colors. Example 1.
| major pentatonic color |
Example 2.
| minor pentatonic color |
Example 3.
| minor blues color |
Kind of a blues tone row eh? A pretty common idea no doubt, simply up then down the blue grouping of pitches. Note that the minor third interval between the root and 3rd, C to Eb, has no pitch between.
So ... all of the "other" scales we love, the various majors, minors, augments and diminished all fall within the span of one octave, no pitches are repeated and are created exclusively with the half step and whole step intervals? Yep, pretty much. What about arpeggios? Now they're a "horse of a different color" no doubt. "Chord scales" or arpeggios are always created with the major and minor thirds, the building blocks for all our equal tempered harmony. So with this defined, what's left for our own "make-your-ownian" modes?
Perhaps the easiest way to do this is by examining the existing parameters for our scales and create a new set of guidelines.
1) that our make-your-ownian modes can exceed the span of one octave and they do not necessarily have to have perfect closure upon their starting pitch.
2) that the intervals used to create a mode can include any of the equal tempered or "blue" intervals.
3) any of the chosen pitches or intervals can be used more than one time.
So ... we've effectively removed most of the guidelines that create our current scale colors? Yep, pretty much. What's left to create? Well, taking the first guideline from above, let's apply the process to the major scale. Here we expand the major scale into a second octave. Example 4.
Not too much different than our regular scale eh? Agreed, but the idea is the important thing here, that our groups can exceed the octave span and not have perfect closure.
So we've expanded past the octave, now lets add the principle of guideline 3, that any of the 12 pitches of equal temper are available. Example 5.
Interesting eh? We've added pitches, thus effectively getting quite a ways away from the major scale character. Let's compose a bit of "make-your-ownian" music with this grouping of pitches. Example 5.
Cool huh? Potentially pretty emotionally powerful sounds eh? So where might we use these ideas? Well for starters, perhaps anytime we wanted to get away from our traditional major / minor tonality of sounds and create new "emotional environments" for our creations. Perhaps we had a scene from a film score that just wouldn't accept anything tonally based to capture the feel. Or say, what if we are making a mostly rhythm / percussion record and wanted some lines to set sections apart etc.
That we can organize our excursions away from tonality is probably the gist of this discussion. That our melodic resources can be logically expanded past accepted limits in an organized way. That the emotional character of our new music will perhaps encourage the listeners to evolve in the way the resources have. Towards a gentler, more accepting and loving relationship towards things they cannot completely know or understand, that acceptance of things "different" is ok ... and is an integral part of the American way.
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"Silence is a great help to a seeker after truth" Gandhi
