Songs in Modes

In an earlier post I described the different diatonic modes. Back when I was teaching, I was appalled to discover that my high school students, coming to me from excellent music education, really had no idea of the beauty or character of the various modes. My guess is that if one learns the modes in “relative” fashion (C to C is Major; D to D is Dorian; E to E is Phrygian: and so on) one doesn’t really learn to love the sounds of these different tonalities.

In that spirit, here are some of the songs I use in my book, Music Theory for Choral Singers, to learn about the beauty of these scales.

Dorian: “Scarborough Faire”; “Dies Irae”; “Drunken Sailor”; a beautiful song in Dorian not included in my book: Pippin’s Song from The Lord of the Rings.

Phrygian: “Beggar Boy of the North”; “Aus tiefer Not schrei ich zu dir” (Out of the Depths)

Lydian: “Lord, if I Got My Ticket Can I Ride?” Another melody in Lydian you may know is “Yoda’s Theme” from Star Wars.

Mixolydian: “Don’t You Hear the Lambs a-cryin’?”; “Old Joe Clark.”

While songs in Aeolian (natural minor) and Ionian (major) abound, here are some nice ones I used in my book:

Aeolian: “When Jesus Wept”; “Shalom Chaverim”; “Hey, Ho, Anybody Home?”

Ionian: “Sumer is icumen in”; “Marines’ Hymn”

Locrian: “French Cathedrals,” a French folk song, uses the Locrian mode, although recordings tend to tone down the uncomfortable nature of the scale by changing some of the notes. Here’s a video on the subject that cites a popular song. Bartok’s piece for piano, Suite Opus 14, movement 5 “Sostenuto” is in the Locrian mode.

These modes express the richness and variety of human life!