#also this is for sure in minor by which i mean the aeolian mode. They didnt have that either at least not in the church

[doctorwhoisadhd]

narrows eyes. hwait a minute. relistening to stella spendens midnightburger... and the tenor/bass choir in the background of terric telling clementine about alchemy...... is NOT period accurate

[requiem626k]

IT IS I! 🎹 anon! I have returned from the land of paper writing for the end of the semester and I live (sort of) HAHA

I just realized I aaid PRELUDES and not ETUDES. But I love both of the either way.

I think Scriabin's etudes are more popular, like Op 8 No 12 and Op 42 No 5. I really enjoy them and the former is really intense, but I think it's easy to get tired of them eventually.

For his Preludes Op 11, my personal favorites are No 1, 15, and 19. I actually don't really understand that much about music theory (though I do plan on learning when I have free time... maybe you could recommend where to start? :D HAHA no pressure of course) so I can only recommend them based on what my ears think sound nice.

Anyway hope you have a good day! May all that you eat be tasty :3

AHH! LOVELY 🎹 ANON HELLO! <3 I was wondering where you were haha! I mean, of course you’re not obligated to write me but ah I think you get the point- I’m just happy to see you again😖❤️

I hope all went well for you with those papers!! I’m sure you did good💕 And thank you so much for the recs ahh, I can’t wait to discover them!!

And thank you for the lovely wishes about my day, I wish the same for you too <3

My commentary for the pieces + recs for learning music theory are under the cut🤭

Etude Op 8 No 12

Oh my God, I loved this. It’s the first time I listen to it, and I chose to listen to it from Horowitz and the chills it sent down my spine are still there. It’s so intense as you said, the build-up is wonderfully written and the passionate emotions just put you in a vortex and whirl you around, I love it. And the bass notes- oh the bass notes, every beginning of a new measure struck my heart.

On the second listen, I can say that I especially adored the heartwarming modulations in the beginning and the use of dominant 7ths during the buildups, omg the amount of chills this piece is giving me- 🤤

Etude Op 42 No 5

My fingers started hurting just by listening to it-😶 Oh my. This one was much more chaotic than the other etude, in the middle part I almost lost my sense of rhythm, it’s just… insane.

I adore the soft melody that chimes in in the middle section🥺 (starting from 01.58 in this recording, it just has my heart ahh I could hum it all day… I never wanted to hug a melody before- ;^;)

Prelude Op 11 No 1

Listening to this right after those passionate etudes was a really interesting and comforting experience. not going to lie. 🤭 Ahh, this one was extremely comforting and soft, it felt like walking on the water and letting myself go with the flow~

Prelude Op 11 No 15

I… I’m mesmerized by this one. How can one create such a beautiful thing with such simplicity? I adore the ambience that the left hand creates, and the pearl-like (as we call it in my native language, which means it’s just so well articulated) melody is the cherry on top- I can easily weep to this, especially to the last two soft chords…🥺

Prelude Op 11 No 19

I LOVE THIS ONE SO MUCH😭 How does he do that? How does he make the listener feel passionate, bittersweet and emotional at the same time? I also love how he hides such precious melodies inside an orderly chaos, they just shine.

In conclusion: Russians surely know how to make music & Scriabin is so damn underrated. Thank you so so much for these recs, I loved every single one of them ❤️

~

Now onto the music theory talk! Parting from your words, I’ll assume that you have no experience/knowledge about it.

My first advice: be patient. Think of it as learning a new language, and this is a language that’s using a completely different alphabet too, called “notes”. Would you expect to be able to talk in a totally new language fluently after a few weeks? A few months? One year? I don’t think so. Treat music theory as such too. It will take time, practice and effort. But don’t let this demotivate you, because once you get the hang of it, it becomes so enjoyable and if you’re really interested in going on (which I see that you pretty much are, given your passion about music <3) you find yourself totally lost in it😌

As a starting point, (again, I don’t know how much you know so I’ll just assume you don’t know anything) obviously, you must learn the alphabet: You should know how to read notes as well as you know your name.

After the notes, there comes the rhythms, modes (Ionian, Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, Mixolydian, Aeolian, Locrian) scales & key signatures, interval types (major, minor, perfect, augmented, diminished etc.) and chord types (triad chords, major chords, minor chords, diminished chords, augmented chords, seventh chords etc.) I’m aware that these are all tedious stuff that you need to memorise quite a bit but please, please lay these foundations very strongly and well. Keep in mind that you’ll be constructing every layer on these knowledges, may it be harmony, counterpoint or piece analysis.

After you’ve learned them individually, you’ll learn the relationships between them. Just as an example: what chord is called how in what scale? Or the chord progressions, which is essential if you want to analyse a piece in terms of theory. And I think this pretty much covers the basics! I definitely recommend learning with a teacher, if you can. But if you can’t, there are lots of stuff on the Internet that would help you learn it yourself, I suppose! It’s been a really long time since I first learned it, for me it’s like my native language so I fear I couldn’t give a detailed and educational advice, but I hope it’s helpful somehow😖

[jessicakmatt]

Music Modes: How to Enrich Your Songs with Modal Color

Music Modes: How to Enrich Your Songs with Modal Color: via LANDR Blog

Why should you learn music modes?

Good question. Even if you know it’ll pay off, the idea of sitting down and memorizing scales isn’t anyone’s idea of a creative flow.

Music theory is one of the most common roadblocks for self-taught musicians and producers.

But the truth is, all you need to expand your tonal palette is a little practical understanding of music modes.

If you need to break out of a creative rut, modes are the easiest alternative to your same old major scale.

This article will show you how to build—and remember—each mode, what they sound like and ways to explore them further.

What are music modes?

Music modes are a type of scale with distinct melodic characteristics. The 7 modes, Ionian, Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, Mixolydian, Aeolian and Locrian, come from the earliest forms of western music.

Before we figured out the math for dividing the octave into 12 equal tones, we had to make do with an imperfect system. Modes were the solution.

Instead of one all-purpose scale that could be transposed into different keys, there were 7 modes that each had their own structure.

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In early music, the modes were used similar to how we use keys now.

Today, modal music refers to pieces of music where modes are used structurally and harmonically in place of traditional functional harmony.

How modes help with songwriting

If you’ve been writing a lot using the vanilla major and minor scales, your next song can benefit from some modal flavour!

Each mode has its own unique colour and mood. Their melodic signatures can bring a lot of drama and freshness to your sound.

They’re not hard to learn either. Once you start experimenting with modes, you’ll recognize a lot of the sounds and colour they have to offer.

How to build the modes

The sound of the modes come from their unique constructions. So what are they and ow can you remember them?

If you’ve been writing a lot using the vanilla major and minor scales, your next song can benefit from some modal flavour!

The modes have an order. Ironically, you can use the mnemonic I Don’t Particularly Like Modes A Lot to remember it!

The order of musical modes is:

1. Ionian 2. Dorian 3. Phrygian 4. Lydian 5. Mixolydian 6. Aeolian 7. Locrian

I’ll go through and build each mode from the C major scale and provide an example from music history to help you understand the potential of each mode in your own songwriting.

Ionian Mode

Let’s start with the major scale. It’s equivalent to the first mode: Ionian.

Since your “key signature” won’t change as we go through the modes, you’ll be able to play each mode using the C major scale formula.

If you need a quick refresher on key signatures, use our circle of fifths guide as a quick reminder.

As you can see C major has no sharps or flats, just the white keys on the keyboard. So: C-D-E-F-G-A-B-C

Since all the notes are essentially the same, we’ll have to play each mode over the corresponding diatonic chord to hear its quality.

Dorian Mode

For Dorian, write the C major scale but instead of stopping at the octave ©, write the next scale degree as if you were continuing up the octave (D).

If we erase the C we started with, we now have an 8 note scale from D1-D2. This is the 2nd mode: D Dorian.

Notice how it’s pretty close to the D minor scale.

It’s similar—but with some very important differences. The 6th degree is natural, but the 7th degree is flatted.

This is what makes the Dorian mode distinct from other minor scales and gives it that special quality.

Here’s a song built around the Dorian mode. Listen for the sound of the natural 6th in the opening guitar figures and vocal melody:

Phrygian Mode

Now write the next note in the scale. If you delete the D you’ll have another 8-note scale from E1-E2. This is the third mode: E Phrygian.

It’s a similar to minor, but the flatted 2nd scale degree immediately sets it apart.

The characteristic minor 2nd interval has a recognizable sound. The second chord in the opening progression of “Pyramid Song” by Radiohead is built on the Phrygian flatted 2nd:

Lydian Mode

Lydian is the fourth mode. If you write the next note in the scale you’ll get F Lydian.

We like this mode so much we did an entire piece on Lydian.

“Bull in the Heather” by Sonic Youth features Lydian’s raised 4th scale degree prominently in the verse guitar melody:

Mixolydian Mode

Mixolydian is the 5th mode. If you continue the method of writing the next scale degree and deleting the first you’ll get G Mixolydian.

Mixolydian has some characteristics of the “blues scale” because of the flatted 7th.

Listen for it in the sitar/vocal melody of “Norwegian Wood” by the Beatles:

Aeolian Mode

Aeolian is the sixth mode. Continuing up the scale, you’ll get A Aeolian.

It’s also called natural minor, because it’s a minor scale without the raised 6th degree or 7th degree of melodic or harmonic minor.

Aeolian is the default minor sound in pop music, so it can be found all over music history.

“Losing my Religion” by R.E.M. uses the Aeolian mode.

Since we’re so used to natural minor, it can be can harder to pick out the characteristic modal intervals. In this case, listen for the quality of the V chord.

When it’s minor we’re in Aeolian.

Locrian Mode

Locrian is the 7th mode. It’s used far less often than the other modes, so there’s not many examples out there.

But that doesn’t mean it’s not worth exploring on your own with the methods you’ve already gone through in the rest of this article.

The parent scale: How to find any mode

You just learned the parent scale method of building the modes. Now you can build any mode as long as you know its number in the order.

Simply count backwards to the major parent scale to determine the structure of the mode.

Simply count backwards to the major parent scale to determine the structure of the mode.

For example, E Aeolian? Aeolian is the 6th mode. What major scale is E the 6th degree of?

Correct, it’s G. So E Aeolian is simply the 8-note scale beginning and ending on E with the same formula as G-Major.

Again, staying sharp with your key signatures is a must for working with modes. The circle of fifths is a great partner tool for writing modally.

Once you understand the parent scale method for getting the modes, you’ll start to see patterns.

This is where the other method for remembering the modes comes into play…

Scale formulas

As I’m sure you’ve noticed, the modes share a lot of similarities with either the major or minor scale.

If you know whether a mode is generally major or minor, you can simply remember which tones are altered from the template.

This is the “scale formula” method for remembering the modes.

Here are the formulas for the church modes.

Ionian – Major (no altered notes)

Dorian – minor + natural 6th, flatted 7th

Phrygian – minor + flatted 2nd, flatted 7th

Lydian – Major + sharp 4th

Mixolydian – Major + flatted 7th

Aeolian – minor + flatted 6th, flatted 7th

For example, say we want to play A Lydian. We remember that Lydian is a “major” mode so we start with the scale formula for A Major: F#, C#, G#.

We know that Lydian contains the raised 4th scale degree, so we can simply add D# to our “key signature” to create the mode.

Now that you know the scale formula method, trying transposing each mode into C and playing them over the corresponding C major or minor chord.

This will help you understand what makes each mode distinct.

Of these two methods, you may think that the scale formula method is much faster and easier. But the parent scale method will come in handy later on when you’re digging into more advanced modes.

How to use the music modes

If you’ve played through the modes, you’re probably starting to get a feel for what they sound like.

In practice, think of the modes like colours on a spectrum from dark to light.

In practice, think of the modes like colours on a spectrum from dark to light.

To generalize:

Modes with more “lowered” or flatted scale degrees are darker.

Modes with more raised scale degrees can be considered brighter.

It’s an easy shorthand for finding where the modes fit in to your songwriting. Need a sound that’s even darker than minor? Phrygian might come in handy.

Looking for something especially bright and augmented? Lydian could be your best choice.

You may find your own synesthetic connections to the modes as you learn them, there’s no right or wrong answers here!

Hot tip: If you’ve been following along extra close and listening carefully to the examples, you may have noticed that some of the songs you’ve heard contain the characteristic intervals of the modes in the melody, while others use them in the harmony.

Need a sound that’s even darker than minor? Phrygian might come in handy.

You can build chords with the modes like we’ve done before with the major and minor scales…but that’s a story for another day! Stay tuned…

Mode Selector

Modes can be a game changer for your songwriting.

The modes of the major scale are everywhere in music history. As soon as you can recognize their sounds, you’ll start hearing them all over your favourite tracks.

They’re also a gateway to other methods. Once you master the church modes, your ears will be itching for new colours and moods.

If you know these methods for building and remembering modes, go ahead and try them all! Because no songwriting toolbox is ever too big.

The post Music Modes: How to Enrich Your Songs with Modal Color appeared first on LANDR Blog.

from LANDR Blog https://blog.landr.com/music-modes/ via https://www.youtube.com/user/corporatethief/playlists from Steve Hart https://stevehartcom.tumblr.com/post/175616844424