So far, most of our discussion has focused on defining modes, collections, and their properties. As always, there is much more to analyzing with these materials than simply knowing terms. This chapter provides some guidance on how to go from theory to practice.

Please note that this book covers modes from many different angles. For more information on modes, check Introduction to Diatonic Modes (general), Chord-Scale Theory (jazz), Modal Schemas (pop), and Diatonic Modes (20th/21st-c.).

Chapter Playlist

In Theory

So, you’re faced with a new piece of music, and you get the sense that it might be worth considering a modal view. It sure isn’t "tonal" in the common-practice sense, but neither does it seem "atonal," "serial," or the like. How do you go about identifying the modes used, and making analytical observations on that basis? 20th-century music has a wider range of possible modes and may not have a key signature or any other notational shortcut for identifying the mode. As such, it’s especially important to be able to identify modes from musical cues.

Firstly, let’s review some of the different considerations that can go into the definition of a mode:

A collection of pitches in a particular intervallic relationship (e.g., C, D, E, F, G, A, B)

A tonic or final that acts as a primary or referential point (e.g., C)

Further hierarchical levels of importance (such as the dominant/subdominant)

Melodic shapes and ranges

No. 1 reminds us that modes can be transposed. While we often present the early modes in their "white-note" transposition (with dorian on D, for instance), in 20th-century music, you can just as easily have them on other pitches such as dorian on E and phrygian on D. This leads to the frankly confusing terminology "D mode on G." Don’t forget that you can also have chromatic notes in modal music—not every pitch used needs to be in the scale. So the question is, how many exceptions are too many?

No. 2 helps to separate all the possibilities that No. 1 throws into the mix. If you only have white notes, which of those white notes is the modal final? Any and all musical parameters might contribute to the case for one of those pitches as tonic; for a useful starting point, try the widely applicable "first, last, loudest, longest" maxim (Cohn 2012, 47, after Harrison 1994, 75ff.). Pitches that dominate in those ways tend to be more salient. Do phrases tend to start and/or end on a certain pitch, or do they emphasize that pitch in other ways, perhaps with strong metrical positions or by reserving it for the top of the melodic contour?

No. 3 also speaks to this difficulty. For instance, in tonal music, you may find more instances of sol (\hat5) than do (\hat1), since it fits in both the tonic and dominant chords. 20th-century modes complicate this with a more diverse set of candidates for hierarchical importance, but this can also help us to unpick the different roles. "First" and "last" might be your tonic, while the dominant may be "loudest" and "longest." We might also use a less loaded term than "dominant" here. For instance, the church modes (discussed in a previous chapter) had a "tenor" or "reciting tone" in an analogous role.

There are many reasons for emphasizing specific pitches in this way. One reason relevant to 20th-century music is the notion of color notes, like fi (\uparrow\hat4) in lydian or ra (\downarrow\hat2) in phrygian. Another reason is to establish a pitch class center. For listeners accustomed to common-practice tonality, the lydian fourth (e.g., F♯ in C major) can very easily become a leading tone in the dominant (G major). Otherwise tonal works written "in the lydian mode" can be highly ambiguous in this respect. Consider what you make of Ludwig van Beethoven’s "Heiliger Dankgesang" from the Op. 132 quartet (1825) and Anton Bruckner’s Os Justi (1879) to this effect.

Range considerations were fundamental to the definition of church modes in terms of authentic vs. plagal forms, and this has been a key consideration for defining modes in many other types of music, as have melodic shapes.

In Practice

The above considerations have to do with identifying a prevailing mode, but how does an analyst use this information to create a compelling interpretation of the piece? Well, the challenge of coming up with a modal reading can become part of that interpretation. Here are some starting points for pivoting from identification to interpretation:

Firstly, how easy was it to come up with a tonal reading? Is this a piece with its structure on display or deeply hidden? What might that say about the emotional valence of the work?

Can you characterize the mode in general and its use in this piece? Is the raised lydian fourth "exciting" or even "aspirational"; is the phrygian second perhaps "lamenting"?

How clearly and separately are these modes set out? When we move from one mode to another, are there common tones, or even a common final? Just like in tonality, "modulations" among modes can be regarded as close or remote, partly on this basis.

How are the properties and distribution of modes related to wider considerations? Do mode changes align with moments that seem like section boundaries for other reasons?

Consider the three moments below, which come from Béla Bartók’s From the Island of Bali. Is the same mode in operation throughout, or does it change? What