Church Modes aka Canonical Modes - What Are They and How They Work

 

If you're a musician, then you already know about scales.  Most musicians know two types of scales: Major and Minor.  Major scales follow a consistent set of intervals:

Root, Whole, Whole, Half, Whole, Whole, Whole, Half
(R,W,W,H,W,W,W,H)

A Half is 1 key (white or black) on the keyboard.  A Whole is two keys together, either a black and a white or a white and a white:

Here, starting with middle C (the white key next to the 2 black keys), the notes are C,D,E,F,G,A,B,C (all white keys)

If Root is the first note, then the rest are as follows: 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8, with 8 being the octave and the root note of the 2nd octave.  

Look at the following keys to see what the notes are for a Major scale:

• G: G,A,B,C,D,E,F#,G
• D: D,E,F#,G,A,B,C#,D
• A: A,B,C#,D,E,F#,G#,A
• E: E,F#,G#,A,B,C#,D#,E

(These 4 keys are useful to start with because they are also the strings of the violin and the mandolin left to right).

Now let's get to the modes.

About 600 years ago, the Catholic Church was looking for a way to teach Hymns to people who couldn't read.  They came up with the Canonical Modes, or Church Modes.  Each mode has a different quality (Sad, happy, etc).  I'll list them in order next with a mnemonic to remember them more easily:

1. Ionian (Major): I
2. Dorian: Don't
3. Phrygian: Play
4. Loud: Lydian
5. Music: Mixolydian
6. About (Relative Minor): Aeolian
7. Love: Locrian

Note the two types of scales most musicians already know, Major (Ionian), and Relative Minor (Aeolian).  Ionian is the 1st mode in the list of 7 modes, and Aeolian is the 6th mode.  Now remember that because it's going to be the way you figure out what the relative minor is in a given key.

The first note of the mode corresponds to the note at the number of the corresponding or relative major/ionian mode.  

For example: the first note of G Ionian/Major is G, the first note of the G Dorian is A, G Phrygian is B, etc.:

• Ionian G
• Dorian A
• Phrygian B
• Lydian C
• Mixolydian D
• Aeolian E
• Locrian F#

Let's do another one, how about D?

• Ionian D
• Dorian E
• Phrygian F#
• Lydian G
• Mixolydian A
• Aeolian B
• Locrian C

So when you are practicing your scale "set", if you are practicing just the Major and Relative Minor, then you'll pick the 1st and 6th notes of whatever the key is that you're practicing: G,E; D,B; A,F#, etc.  If you want to practice all of the modes instead of just those 2, you will follow the instructions above, or play the notes in sequence according to the modes.  Let's do a whole set for G:

• Ionian: G,A,B,C,D,E,F#,G
• Dorian: A,B,C,D,E,F#,G,A
• Phrygian: B,C,D,E,F#,G,A
• Lydian: C,D,E,F#,G,A,B,C
• Mixolydian: D,E,F#,G,A,B,C,D
• Aeolian: E,F#,G,A,B,C,D,E
• Locrian: F#,G,A,B,C,D,E,F#

I recommend that my students practice a different scale set around the circle of 5ths each day.  Starting at the top with C, then going a 5th clockwise (G, etc); and reversing course after C#.  So you'll practice the set around the circle of 5ths including all 7 of the modes.

Contact me if you have questions!