In this video you can hear me playing a piece of music I improvised and named Elemental Shades of One Heart. The title reflects the complexity of human experience, with its many colours and shades of light and dark, and how the different facets of human emotion can be compared to the elements of water, air, earth and fire. The richness of the heart can be like a vast ecosystem, as opposed to a singular concrete wall. To me, the G Ionian Augmented mode feels like water and air due to its unstable, formless, suspended, fluid quality. It doesn’t resolve, it just keeps opening outwards. G Aeolian makes me imagine earth and glowing embers, with its grounded weight and shadows, and spark of passion or smouldering heat. G♯ Dorian is like cool, tranquil water, but with a glowing warmth, like a thermal vent under the ocean. G Lydian is bright and floaty, weightless like air.
I started this improvisation in G Ionian Augmented — with its augmented tonic triad, the Ionian Augmented mode has an unsettled and expanding quality. In standard major and minor scales the perfect 5th is essential for functional harmony and consonance, but instead the augmented 5th in the Ionian Augmented mode prevents resolution and creates instability. This is what can contribute to its sometimes dreamy, sometimes uneasy quality.
I then shifted to G Aeolian (aka natural minor), which has darkness and melancholy, and sometimes intensity, in its minor sound, along with groundedness and stability in its perfect 5th, and a spark of light and hope in its major quality chords VI and VII which I made use of in this piece.
After a return to G Ionian Augmented, I shifted to G sharp Dorian, whose combination of melancholy minor 3rd and lifted major 6th creates a cool tranquility alongside a paradoxical glowing warmth.
Next I moved to G Lydian — the raised 4th of the Lydian mode destabilises the sound, because (like a perfect 5th), a perfect 4th is needed for resolution in functional harmony. The extra brightness and instability of the combination of a major 3rd with a sharpened (augmented) 4th results in an ethereal, airy, floaty quality.
I closed the piece in the suspended and unresolved G Ionian Augmented, reflecting the open ended nature of changeable and multifaceted inner worlds.
Mode Table
| Mode Used | Note Names | Parent Scale | Modal Relationship |
|---|---|---|---|
| G Ionian Augmented | G – A – B – C – D♯ – E – F♯ | E Harmonic Minor | 3rd Mode of Harmonic Minor |
| G Aeolian | G – A – B♭ – C – D – E♭ – F | B♭ Major | 6th Mode of Major |
| G♯ Dorian | G♯ – A♯ – B – C♯ – D♯ – E♯ – F♯ | F♯ Major | 2nd Mode of Major |
| G Lydian | G – A – B – C♯ – D – E – F♯ | D Major | 4th Mode of Major |
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)
Aeolian Mode Formula:
1 – 2 – ♭3 – 4 – 5 – ♭6 – ♭7
(Root, Major 2nd, Minor 3rd, Perfect 4th, Perfect 5th, Minor 6th, Minor 7th)
Dorian Mode Formula:
1 – 2 – ♭3 – 4 – 5 – 6 – ♭7
(Root, Major 2nd, Minor 3rd, Perfect 4th, Perfect 5th, Major 6th, Minor 7th)
Lydian Mode Formula:
1 – 2 – 3 – ♯4 – 5 – 6 – 7
(Root, Major 2nd, Major 3rd, Augmented 4th, Perfect 5th, Major 6th, Major 7th)
Further Reading and Listening
Learn more about modes here: Complete Guide to Modes of the Major, Melodic Minor, and Harmonic Minor Scales
