Mode

What it means

The term mode (from Latin modus, "manner, measure") has several meanings in music. Most often it denotes a scale type, a particular arrangement of whole tones and semitones within the octave that shapes the character of a melody. The church modes such as Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian and Mixolydian are such modes; major and minor are also called modes.

In the mensural notation of the Middle Ages, modus also denotes the ratio of the note values longa and brevis: a longa could contain two or three breves (modus imperfectus or perfectus).

Musical use

Modal music shapes Gregorian chant and Renaissance music and returns in jazz and the music of the 20th century. The modes differ by their final and by the position of the semitones; each has its own color.

Mode should be distinguished from key in the narrower sense of major–minor tonality, which rests on chord functions, and from the scale as a mere series of notes: mode additionally denotes a certain melodic organization.

Performance practice

When you play in a mode, orient yourself by the final and the characteristic note that distinguishes it from major or minor, for example the major sixth in Dorian. Practise the mode as a melody, not just as a scale, to internalise its sound.