mode

mode¹

/mohd/, n.

1. a manner of acting or doing; method; way: modern modes of transportation.

2. a particular type or form of something: Heat is a mode of motion.

3. a designated condition or status, as for performing a task or responding to a problem: a machine in the automatic mode.

4. Philos.

a. appearance, form, or disposition taken by a thing, or by one of its essential properties or attributes.

b. (in the philosophy of Spinoza) one of the nonessential qualifications of God, contingent upon other modes. Cf. attribute (def. 9).

5. Logic.

a. modality (def. 3).

b. mood² (def. 2).

6. Music. any of various arrangements of the diatonic tones of an octave, differing from one another in the order of the whole steps and half steps; scale.

7. Gram. mood² (def. 1).

8. Statistics. the value of the variate at which a relative or absolute maximum occurs in the frequency distribution of the variate.

9. Petrog. the actual mineral composition of a rock, expressed in percentages by weight.

10. Physics. any of the distinct patterns of oscillation that a given periodically varying system can have.

[1250-1300; ME mod(e) ( < OF) < L modus measured amount, limit, manner, kind, tone]

Syn. 1. See method.

mode²

/mohd/, n.

1. fashion or style in manners, dress, etc.: He was much concerned to keep up with the latest mode.

2. a light gray or drab color.

[1635-45; < F < L modus; see MODE¹]

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In music, any of a variety of concepts used to classify scales and melodies.

In Western music, the term is particularly used for the medieval church modes. Keys in tonal music are normally said to be in either major or minor mode, depending particularly on the third degree of the scale. Indian ragas can be regarded as modes. The concept of mode may involve much more than simply a classification of scales, extending to embrace an entire vocabulary of melodic formulas and perhaps other aspects of music that traditionally occur in tandem with a given set of formulas. The term mode has also been used for purely rhythmic patterns such as those of the Ars Antiqua, which were based on ancient Greek poetic metres.

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▪ music

Introduction

      in music, any of several ways of ordering the notes of a scale according to the intervals they form with the tonic, thus providing a theoretical framework for the melody. A mode is the vocabulary of a melody; it specifies which notes can be used and indicates which have special importance. Of these, there are two principal notes: the final, on which the melody ends, and the dominant, which is the secondary centre.

Ancient Greek modes

      The modes of Greek antiquity were placed by theorists in orderly fashion within a larger context. Although the modes were a series of seven-note diatonic scales (i.e., containing five whole tones and two semitones), the nucleus of the tone system was the tetrachord—a group of four consecutive notes (as, from C to F on the piano) comprising the interval of a fourth. Except in late antiquity, the notes were always arranged in a descending order, the basic tetrachord consisting of two whole tones and one semitone: E–D–C–B. Two such tetrachords, separated from one another by a whole tone, formed the so-called Greek Dorian mode: E–D–C–B A–G–F–E. The Dorian mode was taken as a basis for the construction of the larger system. Its single-octave range was extended by the addition of a third tetrachord, A–G–F–E, on top and of a fourth tetrachord, E–D–C–B, at the bottom. In contrast to the two inner tetrachords, which were separated by a whole tone, each outer tetrachord was linked with the neighbouring inner one by a shared note:

      A G F E D C B A G F E D C B.

      Because the combination of the four tetrachords yielded a range of two octaves minus one whole tone, a low A was added by theorists to achieve the following diatonic two-octave system: A G F E D C B A G F E D C B A. This two-octave row, or disdiapason, was called the Greater Perfect System. It was analyzed as consisting of seven overlapping scales, or octave species, called harmoniai, characterized by the different positions of their semitones. They were termed as follows (semitones shown by unspaced letters):

A G FE D CB A Hypodorian (church mode)

G FE D CB A G Hypophrygian (Hypophrygian mode)

FE D CB A G F Hypolydian

E D CB A G FE Dorian

D CB A G FE D Phrygian (Phrygian mode)

CB A G FE D C Lydian (Lydian mode)

B A G FE D CB Mixolydian (Mixolydian mode)

See as table:

      Although the names of the harmoniai were identical with those of the Greek modes, the harmoniai were instead projections of the modal patterns into the more extensive Greater Perfect System. The modes proper were termed tonoi (tonos), their essence being their interval pattern. On the kithara or lyra (the two basic plucked stringed instruments of ancient Greece) the tonoi were produced either by the basic tuning or by the raising or lowering of one or more of the strings by a semitone. Thus, the seven tonoi would sound within the octave E–E as follows (black notes indicate changes from the Dorian tuning):

      Greek theory distinguished three different genera of tetrachords, producing an additional variety of modes. The previously described tetrachord (two descending whole tones plus one semitone) was called diatonic. There were also chromatic and enharmonic genera. The two tones bounding the tetrachord were fixed and always formed a perfect fourth; the two inner tones were movable. The chromatic tetrachord consisted of a minor third (encompassing 1¹/₂ whole tones) plus two semitones, the enharmonic tetrachord of a major third (encompassing two whole tones) plus two approximate quarter tones:

      Also prominent in Greek music was the concept of ethos, which ascribed certain ethical characteristics to the different modes. The Dorian mode was preferred because of its strong and virile character; the Phrygian mode was ecstatic and emotional, the Lydian mode intimate and lascivious. In the Republic Plato stressed the educational values of the Dorian mode and warned against the softening influence of the Lydian ode.

      In early Greek antiquity a system of modal categories developed, referred to as nomoi (singular, nomos, “law”). The nomoi represented modes in that they were characterized by distinctive melodic formulas suited to different song types. The performers were free to improvise within the boundaries of these modal formulas.

Jewish (Judaism) and Eastern Christian chant

      Ancient Hebrew music followed well-established modal patterns. According to Abraham Zevi Idelsohn (Idelsohn, Abraham Zevi), a musicologist whose comparative research conducted during the early decades of the 20th century established modern understanding of the Hebrew modes,

A mode . . . is composed of a number of motives (i.e., short music figures or groups of tones) within a certain scale. The motives have different functions. There are beginning and concluding motives, and motives of conjunctive and disjunctive [i.e., convergent and divergent] character. The composer operates with the material of these traditional folk motives within a certain mode for his creations. His composition is nothing but his arrangement and combination of this limited number of motives. His “freedom” of creation consists further in embellishments and in modulations from one mode to the other.

      The modal Hebrew music strongly influenced early Christian chant. This correlation can be illustrated by comparing a plainchant Kyrie, in the third mode, with a Babylonian Jewish melody for a phrase from Exodus:

       Syria played an important part in developing early Christian chant by integrating both Hellenistic and Hebrew elements. The Syrians devised a musical system called oktōēchos, a term suggesting a classification into eight ēchoi (ēchos). The Syrian ēchoi are modes, although there is no consensus on whether they represented modes in a specifically technical sense, comparable to the Greek tonoi, or melodic formulas, comparable to the Greek nomoi.

       Byzantine chant molded the features of early Christianity with Hellenic and Oriental traits, including the Syrian oktōēchos, and achieved a brilliant and distinctive style that served as a prototype for the chant of the Greek Orthodox Church. The eight ēchoi of the Byzantine oktōēchos were divided into four authentic and four plagal (derived) forms. The most common classification of the Byzantine modes was in terms of typical initial and final notes of melodies in a given mode, with the characteristic distinctions as follows (the orderly progression of notes in each series should be observed).

Ēchos Initial Note Terminal Note

Authentic I a′ a′ or d′

II b′ or g′ e′ or b′

III c′′ or a′ f ′ or c′′

IV d′′ or g′ g′ or d′′

Plagal I d′ or g′ d′

II e′ or g′ e′

III f ′ or a′ f ′

IV g′, a′, or c′′ g′

See as table:

      The above classification reflects only two of various characteristics (not all completely clarified by modern scholars) that gave the modes their identity.

      Even before the foundation of the Byzantine Empire, Armenia adopted Christianity as a state religion (AD 303). Although the early Armenian chant did not survive, the arrangement of the hymns of the Armenian Church in the comprehensive collection, known as the Sharakan, indicates that Armenian chant used an oktōēchos classification the modal characteristics of which seem to have been defined by melodic formulas rather than by scalar distinctions.

      Another variety of the oktōēchos occurs in Russian (Russian chant) Church chant. Although a concept of eight ēchoi points to the Byzantine system, the Russian ēchoi show a different structure. The melodic motives characteristic of the ēchoi are called popievki; but similar popievki could be employed in more than one ēchos. The use of some popievki is limited to the beginning, the middle, or the end of a chant. Occasionally, two popievki are merged into a compound popievka.

Plainchant

      Plainchant, or plainsong, is also known as Gregorian chant and forms the core of the musical repertoire of the Roman Catholic Church (Roman Catholicism). It consists of about 3,000 melodies collected and organized during the reigns of several 6th- and 7th-century popes. Most instrumental in codifying these chants was Pope Gregory I.

The eight modes

      Melodically, Gregorian chants are based on eight different modes, often called church modes (church mode). Seven of them were given names identical with those used in the musical theory of ancient Greece: Dorian, Hypodorian (Hypodorian mode), Phrygian, Hypophrygian, Lydian, Hypolydian, and Mixolydian, while the name of the eighth mode, Hypomixolydian, was adapted from the Greek. Each mode comprises a diatonic scale with the compass of one octave. The modes are classified by their finalis, the usual final note of a melody in that mode. Each of the four notes of the tetrachord D–E–F–G serves as the finalis of an “authentic” mode (see chart below).

      An authentic mode consists of a pentachord (a succession of five diatonic notes) followed by a conjunct tetrachord, for example:

      D E F G A B C D.

      But the tetrachord may be added below rather than above the pentachord, thus generating a “plagal” mode:

      A B C D E F G A.

      In either case the finalis falls on the lowest note of its pentachord. Each authentic mode has a correlated plagal mode, which is identified by the prefix Hypo. In the following chart of the eight church modes, the finalis is marked by a capital letter:

1. Dorian D e f g a b c d

2. Hypodorian a b c D e f g a

3. Phrygian E f g a b c d e

4. Hypophrygian b c d E f g a b

5. Lydian F g a b c d e f

6. Hypolydian c d e F g a b c

7. Mixolydian G a b c d e f g

8. Hypomixolydian d e f G a b c d

See as table:

      The tones of the Hypomixolydian mode are identical with those of the Dorian, but the two modes differ in the location of their finalis. The character of the church modes was further determined by a number of distinctive melodic formulas, and sometimes a particular ethos was attributed to the different modes.

      Contrary to the Byzantine classification, which lists first the four authentic and then the four plagal modes, the Roman classification alternates the authentic and plagal modes, so modes with the same finalis follow each other. This principle underlies the medieval fourfold system of the so-called maneriae (Latin: “manners”), a division of the modes into four pairs. The first pair, or protus maneria, includes the Dorian and Hypodorian modes; the second, or deuterus, the Phrygian and Hypophrygian; the third, or tritus, the Lydian and Hypolydian; and the fourth, or tetrardus, the Mixolydian and Hypomixolydian.

      Although Greek names were sometimes applied to the church modes and the principle of diatonic octave scales is found in both systems, certain significant discrepancies seem to belie any direct historical connection. Most conspicuous is the different meaning attributed to the names of the Greek octave species and of the church modes. Comparing the two systems provides a plausible explanation: medieval theorists apparently assumed wrongly that the Greek octave species were named in ascending rather than descending order. The Greek octave species Dorian (E–E), Phrygian (D–D), Lydian (C–C), and Mixolydian (B–B) thus appeared in the church modes as Dorian (D–D), Phrygian (E–E), Lydian (F–F), and Mixolydian (G–G).

Gradual emergence of major and minor tonality

      The strict consistency of the system of church modes was gradually weakened by the appearance of B♭ in addition to B♮, although the two notes never occurred in succession. The main reason for the use of a tone not included in the basic scale pattern was that medieval musicians sought to avoid the tritone F–B. The tritone (so called because it includes three whole tones) was considered an undesirable interval sharply contrasting with the perfect fourth F–B♭. The substitution of B♭ for B♮ changed the character of a mode. For example, the Lydian mode with a flattened B was identical with the modern major mode, specifically, with the F–major scale (F G A B♭ C D E F); and the Dorian mode with a flattened B generated a minor mode corresponding to the natural D minor scale (D E F G A B♭ C D).

      Nevertheless, for centuries medieval theorists considered these alterations as special forms of the Lydian or Dorian mode rather than as new modes. The reluctance to acknowledge the existence of additional modes is reflected in the so-called musica ficta. According to this practice, musical notation appears to conform strictly to the system of church modes but presupposes that the performer makes certain adjustments by raising or lowering a note through the insertion of a sharp or flat.

      Two different developments occurring between the 12th and the 16th centuries resulted in a radical change in modal theory: an infiltration of folk music into the ecclesiastical and secular art forms and the steadily evolving fabric of harmony destined to unify the growing complexity of polyphonic (many-voiced) musical texture. Finally, a theorist, Heinrich Loris, commonly known by his assumed name Henricus Glareanus (Glareanus, Henricus), sanctioned the coexistence between the old church modes and the emerging major and minor modes. In his Dodecachordon (1547; from Greek dōdeka, “twelve,” and chordē, “string”), perhaps the most significant musical treatise of the time, Glareanus enlarged the system of the eight church modes by adding the following four:

9. Aeolian A b c d e f g a

10. Hypoaeolian e f g A b c d e

11. Ionian C d e f g a b c

12. Hypoionian g a b C d e f g

See as table:

      The Ionian and Hypoionian modes correspond to the major mode, the Aeolian and Hypoaeolian modes to the “natural” minor mode. The 12 modes of the Dodecachordon comprise authentic and plagal structures with tonal centres on the notes C, D, E, F, G, and A, without recourse to sharpened or flatted tones. Glareanus mentions another two modes: the Locrian and the Hypolocrian, having B as their tonal centre. But because in these two modes B and the fifth degree above it, F, form a “false” (i.e., diminished, or flattened) fifth (another form of the forbidden tritone), Glareanus states that for practical purposes only 12 modes are available.

      The growing complexity of polyphonic music caused the distinction between authentic and plagal modes to become more and more irrelevant, and, as a result, the number of modes was virtually reduced to only six. The further development of art music in the Western Hemisphere is characterized by the gradual abandonment of the old ecclesiastical modes in favour of the dual major-minor system that dominated 18th- and 19th-century harmony. This system is often termed tonal, in contradistinction to that of the church modes; in fact, some 20th-century works reviving the patterns of the old church modes, as well as folksongs that occasionally use them, are often termed modal. Nevertheless, major and minor scale patterns have all essential characteristics of modes and should therefore be evaluated as such.

Non-Western modes and melody types

      Modal concepts permeate all manifestations of Oriental art music. They represent a synthesis of well-established systems both of scalar construction and of a variety of melodic formulas and motivic configurations. The amalgamation of these elements yields specific melody types that are imbued with ethical, emotional, and cosmological connotations and form the basis of musical creation. Whereas the Western composer strives for originality and individual expression, his Eastern counterpart submits to the limitations of existing melody types, seeking to excel in an exploitation of their potentials.

      The most elaborate modal concepts are those of the Indian (raga) rāga and of the Arabian-Persian maqām. They correspond to the Javanese patet, the Jewish nigun, and the aforementioned Greek nomos. The Oriental musician first exposes the characteristic features of a particular melody type in a free, improvisatory prelude leading to the more formalized section of the composition. These improvised ntroductions developed into a specific art form, called in India ālāpa (“conversation”), in Java bebooka (“guide”), in Iran mukhtaṣarī (“summary”), in Egypt and Turkey taqsīm (“dissection, analysis”), and in northwestern Africa istahbar (“information”).

      Rāgas and maqāmāt embrace a wide variety of emotional content. They can be courageous, amorous, melancholy, cheerful, soothing, or ecstatic and are capable of conveying these qualities to the listener. Some melody types are supposed to influence illnesses, calm storms, tame wild animals, and increase the fertility of the soil. Others have pernicious power; for example, a certain maqām attracts evil spirits, while a certain rāga may cause fire. According to an ancient legend, a singer who performed such a rāga under the reign of Emperor Akbar (1556–1605) was reduced to ashes, although as a precaution he had submerged his body in the Ganges River. Cosmological connotations have caused melody types to be assigned to different parts of the day; for example, a mid-morning rāga may not be performed during the evening. The Westernized younger generation, however, tends to disregard these traditional restrictions.

      The music of many tribal societies shows well-organized scalar and modal patterns, but they have not been explicitly formulated and systematized by the peoples involved. A comparative analysis reveals that, in spite of a great structural diversity, scalar and modal correlations exist not only among culturally unrelated tribal societies but also among tribal, Western folk, and Eastern art music. Modal systems and their unconscious counterparts thus may be said to have contributed substantially to the structure of a vast amount of the world's music.

Mieczyslaw Kolinski Ed.

Additional Reading

Gustave Reese, Music in the Middle Ages (1940), provides a competent account and critique of a wide variety of modal concepts prevailing during the Western Middle Ages and discusses their origins and repercussions. Willi Apel, “The Tonality,” in Gregorian Chant, ch. 3 (1958), describes thoroughly the system of church modes. Egon Wellesz, Eastern Elements in Western Chant: Studies in the Early History of Ecclesiastical Music (1947, reprinted 1967), discusses the modal structure of the melodies of Byzantine hymns and compares them with those of the Western Church. Abraham Z. Idelsohn, Jewish Music in Its Historical Development (1929, reprinted 1967), an authoritative work on Jewish music, contains chapters on “The Modes of the Bible” and “The Modes of the Prayers.” Egon Wellesz (ed.), The New Oxford History of Music, vol. 1 (1957), includes the following chapters discussing modes: Arnold Bake, “The Music of India,” Carl H. Kraeling and Lucetta Mowry, “Music in the Bible,” Eric Werner, “The Music of Post-Biblical Judaism,” Isobel Henderson, “Ancient Greek Music,” and Henry G. Farmer, “The Music of Islam.” Mieczyslaw Kolinski, “Classification of Tonal Structures, Illustrated by a Comparative Chart of American Indian, African Negro, Afro-American and English-American Structures,” Studies in Ethnomusicology, 1:38–76 (1961), comprises a new system of modal classification accommodating a wide range of Western and non-Western modal patterns. Robert Lachmann, Musik des Orients (1929, reprinted 1966), is the first scholarly survey of the music of Eastern cultures.

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