Lydian

The one characteristic note

The article The modes through familiar pieces recommends that instead of learning seven scales by heart you remember how each mode deviates from major or minor. It is exactly one note each time, and this is the note you listen for. Lydian is major with a raised fourth degree. In F Lydian that is a B instead of B♭. The effect is floating and open; in film music the mode is regularly used for breadth and wonder.

The table sets the four modes with their characteristic notes side by side, as the article describes them. The page Circle of fifths assigns Lydian to the fourth degree of C major, the chord F, the subdominant.

Where you hear it

For Lydian, according to the article, you find less in public-domain literature, because the mode was rarely used as a centre in its own right before the 20th century. You are most likely to meet it in Lydian progressions within major, for instance where the fourth degree is briefly raised before it leads to the dominant.

The most effective exercise, according to the article, is a drone: leave a single note sounding and play the scale above it. A held F, with the white keys from F to F, is Lydian. Without this reference note every mode falls straight back into ordinary major or minor.

Common mistakes

• Taking Lydian for F major: Without the B it stays F major.
• Losing the reference note: Without a drone, bass note or clear phrasing nobody hears a mode.
• Avoiding the characteristic degree: It sounds unfamiliar at first. A Lydian piece without the raised fourth degree is major.