In this video you can hear me playing a piece of music I improvised and called A Twilight Enchantment. The music and title represents the idea that twilight is not a fixed state —  it is a magical-seeming threshold where the harsh glare, rigid lines and bright colours of daytime start to distort and become hazy. The light scatters and softens, while the shadows stretch and deepen. It is like a liminal state of mind, where contradictions and paradoxes can exist simultaneously, without a need for absolute resolution into day or night — as represented by the suspended, unresolved, expansive, and ethereal sound of the A Ionian Augmented mode; combined with the shadowy and exotic A Phrygian mode, and the twilight and magic of the E Mixolydian flat 6 mode. It is like a gateway between the seen and unseen, or the known and unknown.

Mode Table

Mode Used	Pitch Collection (Note Names)	Parent Scale Reference	Modal Relationship to Parent
A Ionian Augmented	A — B — C♯ — D — E♯ — F♯ — G♯	F♯ Harmonic Minor	3rd Mode
A Phrygian	A — B♭ — C — D — E — F — G	F Major	3rd Mode
E Mixolydian ♭6	E — F♯ — G♯ — A — B — C — D	A Melodic Minor	5th Mode

Interval Formulas

• Ionian Augmented Mode Formula: 1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – ♯5 – 6 – 7
• (Root, Major 2nd, Major 3rd, Perfect 4th, Augmented 5th, Major 6th, Major 7th)
• Phrygian Mode Formula: 1 – ♭2 – ♭3 – 4 – 5 – ♭6 – ♭7
• (Root, Minor 2nd, Minor 3rd, Perfect 4th, Perfect 5th, Minor 6th, Minor 7th)
• Mixolydian ♭6 Mode Formula: 1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5 – ♭6 – ♭7
• (Root, Major 2nd, Major 3rd, Perfect 4th, Perfect 5th, Minor 6th, Minor 7th)

Learn More About the Modes Used

Learn more about the Ionian Augmented mode here: Ionian Augmented Mode (Ionian ♯5) Explained and How to Work it Out With Note Names in All 12 Keys

Learn about the Phrygian mode here.

Learn about the Mixolydian flat 6 mode here: Mixolydian ♭6 Mode Explained: Complete Guide with Note Names in All 12 Keys

Read about modes in general here: Complete Guide to Modes of the Major, Melodic Minor, and Harmonic Minor Scales

Further Listening

Jewels Reside in the Shadows — Improvisation in G Phrygian Dominant & B♭ Lydian ♯2

Aria Unsung — Improvisation in G Major (Ionian), B Aeolian & G Mixolydian ♭6

Melodies of a Shared Breath — Improvisation in E♭ Major, F Dorian & D Phrygian