In composing a piece in Mixolydian or Lydian mode, how would you prevent the music from ‘sliding’ into the subdominant major key or dominant major key, respectively?
The Ionian mode holds its ground so much in the Western world, that for many people music tends to “slide” into the Ionian mode from other modes. Sometimes it’s difficult to tell the mode of a song. Think about Lynyrd Skynyrd’s Sweet Home Alabama; is it in Mixolydian or Ionian mode? Modal vagueness can be a great tool in songwriting. If you have 7 minutes to spare, watch this Philip Tagg’s great video about this subject.However, if you really don’t want vagueness or modal “sliding”, you can just emphasize the I chord of the mode you want in the song. Emphasize on the characteristic chord/melodic movements of the particular mode. Try heavy use of ♭VII → I with melody emphasizing the first scale degree in the Mixolydian mode. In the Lydian mode, emphasize the movement of ♯IV → III, as ♯IV → V may sound more like VII → I in the dominant key of the Lydian mode. And remember to include lots of the first degree in the melody.
Which songs does Slash use the Mixolydian and Dorian scales in?
What songs does Slash (Guns N' Roses and Velvet Revolver) use the Mixolydian and Dorian scales in? Mainly which solos of these songs SLASH's playing style is based around the blues and harmonic minor scales. He plays with strong, melodic sensibilities. He relies on pentatonic minor scales played in "blues box" positions for solos and and sometimes uses the Aeolian and Dorian modes, the Mixolydian scale and pentatonic major scale. http://www.snakepit.org/equip.html Slash uses these scales FYI
What songs in The Sacred Harp are in the mixolydian mode?
I also wanted to point out that the reason I wanted to know mixolydian melodies is that besides being a Christian who loves his newfound hobby of singing Sacred Harp, I am also a jazz guitarist and wanted to find melodies I could use in improvisation. These melodies would work well in major keys and also dorian (which appears ALOT in jazz). Also, since most of the melodies suggested here don't actually contain the seventh degree of the scale, I guess they can work over mixolydian. One more thing, when I went through those songs, I only examined the melody lines when I noticed they don't contain the seventh degree. The alto and tenor lines may contain the seventh and in that case I wouldn't know if they are traditionally flatted, so if anyone could let me know if this is ever the case, please do. For example, I wouldn't know if Wondrous Love were dorian or mixolydian if I never saw the flatted three in other parts (besides it sounding minor in general).
What are some older songs that use the Mixolydian mode?
Lori Burns' Bach's Modal Chorales is a fascinating read about how J.S. Bach arranged old modal Lutheran chorales (hymns). She includes a list in Appendix 2 of chorales considered to be in these modes, including Mixolydian, by music theorists in the 17th and 18th centuries, some of which go back to the time of Martin Luther.One of the Mixolydian chorales listed there is Komm, Gott, Schöpfer, Heil'ger Geist (Come, God, Creator, Holy Ghost), which Bach composed a prelude of (BWV 631), with the score conveniently shown in the video. Even though it begins and ends on G Major chords, all of the F's in the melody and most of the F's in the harmony are natural instead of sharp:Others listed, among others, are:Gott sei gelobet und gebenedeietGelobet seist du, Jesu ChristEs ist das Heil uns kommen her
Music theory: what does it mean when a song is written in a mode?
I shall try to make this simple.The common heptatonic (7-degree) major scale, cyclically extended both directions by octave cyclicity, consists of 8 notes and 7 steps. In the model Pythagorean major scale, which is an abstraction, we have 5 tones (T) and 2 limmas (λ, AKA Pythagorean or grave semitones).C, D, E, F, G, A, B, C’, (D’, E’, F’, G’, A’, B’, C’’, …)Thus we have a “major scale” or a “major mode” or a “C mode” arranged as TTλTTTλThe fundamental modal concept says that you can use any degree of this model scale to start a new scale on, and that was called by Aristoxenus “periphora of the tonal bases” (περιφορά meaning “cycling around”).Thus in Pythagorean terms you will have seven cases:C mode (AKA major): TTλTTTλ, D mode: TλTTTλT, E mode: λTTTλTT, F mode: TTTλTTλ, G mode: TTλTTλT, A mode (AKA minor): TλTTλTΤ, B mode : λTTλTTT.These 7 modes had Greek names, which Glareanus used for Gregorian chant by simple nonchalant guesswork, so he got all the names but one wrong. Unfortunately, Glareanus’s guesswork passed into Western music, thus today’s Western musicians know the so-called “church” modes in his style, most all misnamed. In the original Greek:C mode (major): lydios, D mode: phrygios, E mode: dorios, F mode: hypolydios (or perhaps also syntonolydios), G mode: ionios (and informally iasteios), A mode (minor): aeolios / locrios, B mode : (attic or dramatic) mixolydios.Thence, the Western term “modal” may mean any of the following three:i. one of the above other than major or minor (i.e. the modes of D, E, F, G, B);ii. a different rearrangement of tones and limmas not included above (e.g. TTλTλTT, TTTλλTT);iii. a combination of steps different from “tones and limmas / semitones”, derived from and/or used by some other musical culture.I used to get a kick in college at the surprise in the eyes of fellow students, when I was telling them that “A taste of honey”, a song very familiar to them, was in a D-mode, Greek phrygios, Gregorian “dorian”; enjoy: