First off, I should say don't get frustrated with this. It took me several months before everything fit together. Just try to get as many points of view as possible and eventually it will fall in place.
We'll do this in C, because there are no sharps or flats. Now, we all know the basic major scale from all those kids tunes and whatnot. We call the major scale IONIAN, and it is the parent scale from which the other 6 are derived. All 7 modes of a key contain the same notes in the same order, the differene being that you start on different degrees of IONIAN.
So here are the 7 modes for the key of C:
code:
C IONIAN-------C D E F G A B C
D DORIAN-------D E F G A B C D
E PHRYGIAN-----E F G A B C D E
F LYDIAN-------F G A B C D E F
G MIXOLYDIAN---G A B C D E F G
A AEOLIAN------A B C D E F G A
B LOCRIAN------B C D E F G A B
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You can see that these all contain the same notes in the same order, but each mode has a distinct sound.
Take a look a this:
I ii iii IV V vi vii°
These Roman numerals are used extensively in classical music theory to show the quality of the chord built on the degree of the scale in question. Capital Roman numerals mean the chord built from that degree is major, and lower case means the chords are minor. The ° on the vii chord means diminished. (A + would mean augmented, but it is not natural.) The chords are the first, third, and fifth notes of the mode, commonly called the 1, 3, and 5.
For example, in C major, this would be the analysis for the chords of the degrees of the C major scale:
code:
CHORD----NAME----NOTES----QUALITY
I--------C-------C-E-G----major
ii-------Dm------D-F-A----minor
iii------Em------E-G-B----minor
IV-------F-------F-A-C----major
V--------G-------G-B-D----major
vi-------Am------A-C-E----minor
vii°-----B°------B-D-F----diminished
[/code]
The natural minor of a key is AEOLIAN, the 6th degree of IONIAN. IONIAN and AEOLIAN are the two modes classical music is based on, and thus, the most important. The analysis for the AEOLIAN mode is:
i ii° III iv v VI VII
You can see it is the same pattern as a major key, just shifted.
I hope this helps. It's hard for me to explain it because there is so much and each person's view is a little different. If there's anything else you want to know, just ask.
[This message has been edited by ekstasis16 (edited 06-20-2000).]
"When you're a young, long-haired guitarist, no one takes you seriously." - John Petrucci
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