history of the modes

So just what is a "mode?" And why is it's history important to us? The term "mode" as used today simply implies a scale or set interval sequence of pitches. Learning their history may help us to understand their emotional essence. Really? How? Well when we listen to "modal" music, we often travel back in time. Can we as players capture the "modal mood" from times past and bring it forth in the present, connecting us with the memories we all share?

How far back in European western history can we go in tracing the modes? To the Medieval church modes? The earlier ancient Greek modes? Are the modes we use today that live within our equal tempered system of tuning simply the modern version of these ancient groups of pitches? So cool to think that many of the scales we love today to create the American sounds go all the way back to far reaches of written history ... maybe even further. And why shouldn't they huh? Can we recreate the ethos of the ancients in our melodies today? I think to a certain degree we can ... the trick is to understand this ethos and search for it. How? By shedding of course. It all comes down to shedding n'est pas?

Knowing the sound before knowing it's theory. As we have no real recordings of anything before the Edison wax rolls of the 1880's, we must recreate the sound of this early Greek music as best we can from it's scant written documentation that survives. Thankfully we have many fine recorded examples of the Medieval chant, as it remained part of the church service til 1965. This "a cappella" choral music is said to be monophonic, meaning one melody line that everyone sings together. Just like early American spirituals and blues. Are there chords or an associated harmony in this modal music? No. The somber, unadorned tone we associate with Gregorian chant is divinely inspired, creating a meditative atmosphere perfect for worship. Always in the minor tonality, the music is meant to humble those who hear and to bring this humility to the church.

An important thing to keep in mind with our historical perspective of music theory is that so much of this early music was simply in one key and of course there was no harmony or chords as we know them today. Another important idea concerning this early music is that in the case of the Greek sounds, the wee bit of documentation we have today illuminates a system of music that was probably not used by the common folks of the times in making their music. I think this idea would hold true throughout the ages to some degree. Even today in some of the current American sounds, the music is not a reflection of where the theory has evolved to. Lastly, that the Gregorian chant music was utilitarian, meaning it was not entertainment. It served as part of the church services in what is termed the "offices" of each day. These offices were meditative prayer services conducted at regular intervals everyday, mostly coinciding with the motion of the sun.

So where did our modes evolve from? Well, searching back as far as our written musical records of our western civilization will allow us to go, we find ourselves in ancient Greece. Here we find the origin and theories of the initial sounds and theoretical systems we use today to create so much of the American sound we love. So, 3000 years or so? Yep. Most of what survives today of their system of music revolves around the work of two musicians. Pythagoras, who defined the musical intervals based on the most solid of the mathematical ratios, reflecting what was thought to be the "fingerprints of the Gods."

What basically is created with these mathematically divine ratios are the intervals we commonly use today. Compare the following chart. Example 1.

A second musician, Aristoxenos around 330 B.C. authored a treatise on the Greek melodic system titled "Harmonics" which describes the creation of tetrachords, whose outer pitches were always perfect fourth apart while the inner pitches were determined by the singer. This idea of the tetrachord evolved to become the "Greater Perfect System." A two octave scale, the core of which was the termed central octave, was enlarged by adding a four note tetrachord on each end. Example 2.

Perhaps the key thing to note hear is the descending interval sequence used to create the pitches of the central octave. Example 3.

Look familiar? It should, as this interval sequence in ascending creates the pitches of the present day Ionian mode or major scale. So, an upper tetrachord, the central octave, a lower tetrachord and an "added tone" below. The central octave, termed the Dorian mode, are said to be the essential pitches for early Greek melodies. Since Greek instruments had a range of one octave, the various modes were created by starting on a different pitch from the two octave greater perfect system grouping of pitches as shown above, then transposing these intervals within the central octave span. Thus the following 7 modes emerge as passed along to us by Greek scholar Ptolemy. Example 4.

These were the modes of the ancient Greeks, as best as we can reproduce today from the fragments of documentation. Recognize any of the sounds perhaps? Are any of our present day modes / interval structures within equal temper included in the above groupings?

The Medieval Church modes. Back before the emergence of equal temper during Medieval times, musicians had then what we commonly refer today as the "church modes." Why "church" modes? Well mainly in that during the Medieval period the Church of Rome was the leader of much of Western European society and as such, kept a pretty continuous written record of daily events allowing us today to get a sense of what they were doing way back then.

Their modes were eight in number, the four "authentic" modes named by the earlier Greek names of Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian and Mixolydian. The four "plagal" modes, a derivative of the four authentic groupings, used the termed "hypo" before it's authentic name. Thinking along the lines of the C diatonic scale or white keys of today's piano, the Medieval church modes started on D, E, F, and G respectively and are distinct by their intervalic construction. Example 5.

Look familiar? These configurations "bolt right up" pitch for pitch to our present day equal temper system. Cool that in organizing the resource this way we see the gradually shifting of the half step in creating each of the four melodic groups. Just how important is the location of the half steps in our melodic resources?

A further Medieval theory allowed for each of these four modes to have their "dominant" mode, located on it's fifth degree. Working from "root to root" is termed "authentic", or from dominant to dominant, termed the "plagal" form. Example 7.

Looks as if the last group is identical with the first eh? That Hypomixolydian and the authentic Dorian are identical in pitch. Thus, a perfect closure to the system? Cool huh? Dig the sound of the D Dorian and it's plagal Hypodorian color. Example 8.

Simply back in forth slowly between the two groups. This unadorned "plainchant" is often what we hear in the Medieval "Gregorian Chant", so named for Pope Gregory circa 590 A.D., this "two versions" melodic resource and compositional invention is the basis for the sounds we hear. Is this two part scheme an earlier version of the later sonata allegro form? The bread and butter musical form of European classical composers? Could very well be, as modulation to the dominant is very common towards the close of the exposition in sonata allegro form. Cool how one thing just evolves into another eh? Do find some of the Gregorian chant to listen to and if appropriate, find some illustrations from the medieval period to view while listening, for combining the two can make a powerful impression on the viewer today.

Back to the theory ... Doesn't that "plagal Dorian" above look a whole lot like "A Aeolian?" Tis is ... so these church modes evolved into equal temper? Yep. Compare the pitches and their labeling from back then to today. Example 9.

From the chart above we see the seven modes of equal temper yes? Absolutely. Of course, the term "modern" in the above chart is a bit tongue and cheek, for this naming system goes back a couple of hundred years. So why the evolution from church modes to equal temper? Well, to a certain extent we have the adventurous composers of the day to thank and of course the development of keyboard instruments. The organ, harpsichord and then piano, which by their linear layout, revealed the musical palette of the future, encouraging composers to a greater range of modulation, a range of musical colors not encouraged by the church modes or other methods of tuning, utilized during the Medieval period.

That the Ionian mode or major scale, as we know it today, was king in the non religious music of the day and gained new prominence in equal temper with the emergence of the piano. Still reigning today, the relative major / minor tonality or Ionian / Aeolian grouping is 300 years within equal temper and continues to turn out impassioned and bold, visionary and evolving, fresh and exciting music. So cool huh? Is there a next step in evolution for equal temper?

The modern modes of equal temper. How are our present day modes similar or different from the modes of the Medieval era or back to antiquity and ancient Greece? Well, with the information presented above, perhaps it is no surprise that today's modes directly carry on the tradition of both of the earlier groups. Turns out we used the same Greek names to identify different Medieval modes and then the Medieval names for four of our present modes. Examine the following evolution of terminology from ancient Greece to the present. Example 6.

So ... no worries eh? Same sounds, different handle. In today's theory, there is a "set in stone" pattern for mode identification. Is this difference due to equal temper? Yep. Examine the layout of the keys of our modern keyboard. Example 7.

For nearly the last 300 years the keys of the piano have been arranged in the above fashion. Do note the repeated group of "two and three" of the purple keys on top. This is the "set in stone" interval pattern mentioned above. What it determines are the location of the half steps for white keys. With these in place the following interval sequence emerges. Example 8.

Look familiar? It might, we just used this group in example 3 above, although then we were descending, and now we want to ascend. What grouping of pitches is created as we ascend the sequence? Let your ear be the guide. Example 10.

Sound familiar? Right, the Ionian mode, major or diatonic scale. Can we project all of our modes from within these white keys? Absolutely, and in creating our modern seven modes, we follow the same process as the ancients, whereby each of our modes is projected from a different pitch from "the central octave." Thus ... example 11.

So, playing the white keys from C to C creates the Ionian mode? Yep. From the pitch D to D is Dorian? Tis is ... E to E is Phrygian? Lydian is from F. Mixolydian from G. Aeolian from A and Locrian on B? Absolutely. Wow, that was easy eh? So how are things different within equal temper from the earlier Greek and Medieval melodic systems?

The beauty of equal temper. The main difference from then to now is in the tuning. Not in terms of higher or lower in pitch but in terms of size of the intervals. It turns out that by using the divine ratio to create the perfect fifth, the 3 / 2 ratio as stated above, when we create consecutive fifths in a "cycle", to close the loop back upon itself, our last pitch is quite a bit sharp from our original pitch. This glitch is known as the "Pythagorean comma." Ooops ... I hate when that happens.

Well, so did many players over the centuries. Perhaps it doesn't really matter as so much of the early music, Greek and Medieval, was simply a single note melody, there were no chords or harmony and changing keys was not a popular option. I wonder if they did close the loop, what might have happened. Anyway, I guess that's why we call it "plainchant." Sorry, just kidding. For actually in it's day, plainchant was the "utility" music of not only the church but many, many peoples, for hundreds and hundreds of years. So very beautiful in it's simplicity. Isn't there a popular plainchant form of this today? Hip Hop? Rap?

The beauty of equal temper is in it's ability to perfectly close this cycle of fifths in regard to pitch without inflicting any damage to the 12 pitches / intervals in the cycle. And what it allows us to do is to project the modal system as presented above in example 11 from each of the 12 pitches of the chromatic scale. What does this allow us to do? In a nutshell ... to seamlessly modulate or change keys between tonal centers anywhere in the music we might so choose. Is that all? Nope. Tuning the intervals this way in equal temper also gives us all the lovely harmony we so much enjoy. Can we project all the chords from each of the 12 pitches of equal temper? That's the idea. Anything else? Well, equal temper also expands our tonal centers to 24 choices, 12 major and 12 minor, all "equally tuned" to perfectly co-exist together so as to be fully available melodically and harmonically to the impassioned artist. Cool huh? It's pretty huge. Comments, questions?

Review. In early Greece, the origins of our organization of pitch into a melodic resource, the music was monophonic, one single improvised melody line, perhaps with a rhythm accompaniment, that was created within the span of one octave using a set formula of intervals. Different modes were achieved by starting on different pitches of this formula then transposing those pitches to lie with the one octave span.

Medieval music carried on the Greek traditions by using terminology and ideas from the system of pitches. Having eight modes, four authentic, four plagal, the Medieval sound is monophonic and unadorned. Modulation begins with motion between the authentic and plagal versions of a mode and rhythms are free to interpret the text. In this period the music has begun to be notated, thus preserved as well as a consistency in performance.

Today's modes are created by the equal tempered system of tuning, wherein the cycle of fifth's perfectly closes, allowing each of the 12 pitches of the chromatic scale equal status. Thus, each of the seven modes, all of the chords are doable from any pitch and modulation to any of the 12 major or 12 minor tonalities is available. Rhythm is more standardized and notation is exact. Interpretation of the written music is a big part of a musician's art and the art of improvisation as complex as perhaps it has ever been in recorded history.

The book to read for the history of the modes is the Donald Grout's History of Western Music. For equal temperament, the book to read is Stuart Isacoff's Temperament, Music's Greatest Riddle. For early American Blues and Jazz the Early Jazz by Gunther Schuller.

Where to next?

review new ideas

1. Grout, Donald, J. A History of Western Music, New York: W.W. Norton and Company Inc., 1973.

2. Schuller, Gunther. Early Jazz, New York: W.W. Norton and Company Inc., 1960 and 1973.

3. Isacoff, Stuart. "Temperament ... The idea that solved music's greatest riddle." U.S.A. Alfred A. Knopf, New York. 2001.

4. Apel, Willie. The Harvard Brief Dictionary of Music,New York: Pocket Books, 1960.