3.4 Heptatonic Scales: Introduction to Modes

L E A R N I N G   O B J E C T I V E S

1. Defining Modes as heptatonic scales and in historical context.
2. Identifying Modes.
3. Constructing Modes.

Brief Survey

Pre-Tonal (pre-Common Practice) music is generally considered to be music prior to
1587 or16001600 is a convenient benchmark. 1587 is sometimes used as a more
specific date. This coincides with the establishment of the

Florentine Camerata

, (or

Camerata di Bardi

after its patron), a colloquium of Northern Italian Humanists,

Poets, Musicians, and aesthetes. In attempting to “rediscover” and recreate ancient
Greek dramatic forms, they developed a new style of music, the “Second Practice,”
or “New Style.” This was the origin of Opera.. This period is often referred to as the

Modal Era

(as opposed to the

Tonal Era

that is the Common Practice period).

The source materials for Tonal practice consist of the Major/Minor

duality

. Music of

this period essentially relied upon Major and Minor scales and their extrapolated
constructs as the formative resources for composition.

In the Modal Era, the source materials were a collection of scalar constructs called

Modes

18

. Originating as tetrachords in early Greek theory, in early Western music

they consisted of a collection of interlocking hexachords, each with specific
attributes. In time, as compositional resources evolved, supported by accompanying
theoretical principles, Modes became a series of heptatonic scales, each with very
specific attributes.

Although these were the theoretical basis for early music, modes languished during
the Tonal Era. Composers in the 20th-Century, looking for alternative resources to
Major and Minor scales, “re-discovered” modes. Modal “flavors” are found in
abundance throughout examples of music since 1900.

Modes have become an integral resource in the Jazz style as well. Since the mid-to-
late 1950’s, modes are considered to be the initial, or primary source scales for Jazz
improvisation, especially in the pedagogical practice called chord/scale

18. Heptatonic scales used in early

music. Also used in post-Tonal
music.

Chapter 3 The Foundations Scale-Steps and Scales

106