modus

According to its most basic definition, a mode is simply a scale. But there is much more to it than that. A mode is also a tonality, much like the major scale has its own tonality.

Identifying modes

1. Identify the quality of tonic. Listen for the tonic pitch.
2. Listen and look for ^7 (ti or te).
3. Listen and look for other color notes - fi (↑^4 ) in major, la (↑^6 ) in minor, or ra (↓^2) in minor.

The seven main categories of mode have been part of musical notation since the middle ages. So, the list goes: Ionian, Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, Mixolydian, Aeolian and Locrian. Some of them are major modes, some are minor, and some are ambiguous.

We think that modes have been around since the middle ages, based on ancient Grecian music theory. They are named after geographical regions in ancient Greece, which is why they have Greek names. Centuries later they were adopted by the Romans and used in Church music.

When we refer to mode, we are simply referring to the number that appears most often within a data set. You can find it easily by counting how many times each number occurs within the data set. Example: In the data set [5, 7, 8, 2, 1, 5, 6, 7, 5], the mode is 5, as it occurs most often.

Mode is a relative term: when you decide, for whatever reason, to make one particular note your root, that pattern is called the scale, and becomes a 'parent scale', as it were, to its other modes: Building a scale with the same key signature but using a different root than the 'parent' root becomes a mode: A different ...

The most common modes used in Western music are the Ionian (major) and Aeolian (natural minor) modes, but there are also other modes such as Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, Mixolydian, and Locrian.

The term mode comes from the Latin word for manner or method. Modes in music theory are variations of musical scales. A scale has a set pattern of tones or pitches; a mode starts and ends at different notes in a scale. The most common types of scales are major scales and minor scales.

Think of it this way: A KEY refers to a particular “home base” or tonic note. For example the “Key of C”. But that doesn't tell you anything about the rest of the notes that will be used. A MODE refers to a particular set of half steps and whole steps, but does not specify any one tone.

The thing to realize about modes is that they are simply emphasizing different key notes in the same collection of notes. Take a scale, any scale, and "emphasize" one note. This will make the "Scale" sound different than if you emphasize a different note.

The Mixolydian mode gets its name from the terms “mixo” (a prefix for “mixed” in Greek) and “lydian” (referring to the Lydian mode). The ancient Greek Mixolydian mode's invention is speculated to have occurred around 700 B.C., and is frequently credited to poet and musician Sappho.

A mode is defined as the value that has a higher frequency in a given set of values. It is the value that appears the most number of times. Example: In the given set of data: 2, 4, 5, 5, 6, 7, the mode of the data set is 5 since it has appeared in the set twice.