Modes in Traditional Music
I created this variation on the Circle of Fifths to include the modes regularly used in our traditional music: mixolydian, dorian & natural minor. The brightest mode (major) is on the outside and progresses to the darkest mode (minor) on the inside. The circle lightens as you sharpen notes and darkens as you flatten notes.
Modal Circle of Fifths
There is a huge amount of false scholarship and pretension around modes in traditional music. A mode is a musical scale coupled with a set of characteristic melodic behaviours. Musical modes have been a part of western musical thought since the Middle Ages, and were inspired by the theory of ancient Greek music – hence the names of our modern modes (though they have very little to do with the music of Ancient Greece!).
There are those who like to categorise the melodies of traditional tunes using just four of these modes; ionian, mixolydian, aeolian & dorian. This is a fine practice as a tool to communicate with other musicians, as long as it is not lorded over folk who have no clue what these terms mean musically.
It’s fairly obvious to anyone who looks that the use of these particular modes has a lot to do with the many diatonic instruments in traditional music. Whether you’re playing a penny whistle or a single-row melodeon, it’s hard to stick to major/minor scales when you’re trying to keep up with a fiddle player who might be playing in different keys. I have demonstrated them here with D as the key note, for the reason that whistles and single row melodeons are often based around a D ionian scale.
There are those who like to categorise the melodies of traditional tunes using just four of these modes; ionian, mixolydian, aeolian & dorian. This is a fine practice as a tool to communicate with other musicians, as long as it is not lorded over folk who have no clue what these terms mean musically.
It’s fairly obvious to anyone who looks that the use of these particular modes has a lot to do with the many diatonic instruments in traditional music. Whether you’re playing a penny whistle or a single-row melodeon, it’s hard to stick to major/minor scales when you’re trying to keep up with a fiddle player who might be playing in different keys. I have demonstrated them here with D as the key note, for the reason that whistles and single row melodeons are often based around a D ionian scale.
It is worth noting for any classically trained musicians, that because of the frequent use of the Mixolydian and Dorian, the key signatures of some tunes may lead you astray. For example, a key signature of 1 sharp might imply to you that the tune will be in G major or E minor… however, it could also be in D mixolydian or even A dorian!
The true evolution of our dance musics cannot rightly be known, but it’s not surprising that it uses these four modes, when you consider that the tradition has developed since the last days of “Gaelic Ireland” in the early 17th century. If we look further back, we find the the almost-baroque harp tradition, fife & drum for military marching, as well as singing traditions such as sean nós & keening. The singing traditions in particular point to much earlier origins, as they use phrygians, lydians and even microtones reminiscent of the maqāmāt of Arabic music. Of course many ancient musics use tonalities that may sound out-of-tune to a modern ear, if only by virtue of the fact that equal temperament is a relatively recent invention. As can still be observed in unaccompanied choirs & string orchestras, let alone traditional singing/playing, the use of just intervals physically resonates and, some would argue, evokes emotion in us more readily.
The true evolution of our dance musics cannot rightly be known, but it’s not surprising that it uses these four modes, when you consider that the tradition has developed since the last days of “Gaelic Ireland” in the early 17th century. If we look further back, we find the the almost-baroque harp tradition, fife & drum for military marching, as well as singing traditions such as sean nós & keening. The singing traditions in particular point to much earlier origins, as they use phrygians, lydians and even microtones reminiscent of the maqāmāt of Arabic music. Of course many ancient musics use tonalities that may sound out-of-tune to a modern ear, if only by virtue of the fact that equal temperament is a relatively recent invention. As can still be observed in unaccompanied choirs & string orchestras, let alone traditional singing/playing, the use of just intervals physically resonates and, some would argue, evokes emotion in us more readily.
