Dec 242009
I know about all the different modes (ionian, lydian, phrygian, etc), but how are they actually used in music? I mean, if someone was writing a song, they wouldn’t just randomly throw in a scale or something, so how are modes actually used in music?
They are used just like the major and minor scales.
The melody is centered around the first note in the scale, and that tone is usually the last note of the melody.
The main theme from the first movement of the Grieg piano concerto, starting at ms. 6, is sometimes used as an example of the Phrygian mode:http://www.pianopublicdomain.com/img/thu…
Here is the Tennessee State Song, which is in the Mixolydian mode:http://back.numachi.com:8000/dtrad/score…
as is the song Old Joe Clark:http://www.folkofthewood.com/SibeliusFil…
Shady Grove does not used the sixth tone of the scale,
so we don’t know whether it is Aeolian or Dorian:http://www.kstez.de/Shady_Grove__USA__25…