Like in my previous improvisation, Anemone, I used a recurring theme of polyrhythms (cross rhythms), but this time as 4s against 3s, whereas Anemone featured 6s against 4s (or 3:2). Polyrhythms are something that come up frequently in my improvisations, but usually as fleeting fragments of melody, set against the accompaniment. In this improvisation and Anemone the polyrhythms became more of a defining feature, and more sustained. I used the polyrhythms and other continuous rhythms within the same pulse to convey turbulence and motion, while the combination of modes felt to me like it portrayed darkness with glimmers of light. The movement from E Aeolian to B♭ Lydian gives a tritone relationship between the two tonal centres, and tritones can be very ominous sounding, and yet the darkness of this movement between modes is paradoxical when considering the brightness of the Lydian mode. Then the movement from A Mixolydian ♭6 with its major 3rd and minor 6th, to E Dorian with its minor 3rd and major 6th felt like a strange mirror image of shifting shadows, where you’re not quite sure where the brightness is going to appear next. As such, I ended up calling this piece of music “Fantasia” to reflect the unpredictable shifts of colour, light, shadow and movement. 

For this improvisation I started with the polyrhythms mentioned above: quaternary semiquavers in the right hand in the form of 4-part descending arpeggios with the melody voiced through the top notes; against triplet broken octaves with inner notes in the left hand. 

This texture continued through E Aeolian, B♭ Lydian and A Mixolydian ♭6. 

B♭ Lydian appeared as a chord-scale pairing in this improvisation, whereas all the other modes featured chord progressions. 

The Lydian mode is the brightest of this set because of the raised 4th degree (E natural), which removes the usual subdominant gravity; contrasting with the lament character of the Aeolian mode. 

A Mixolydian ♭6 has that characteristic major-minor ambiguity — bright major 3rd resulting in a major tonic triad, with the dark minor 6th. 

Then whilst still in A Mixolydian ♭6, the texture switched to non-polyrhythmic quavers in the form of arpeggios and broken chords in both hands, with inner voice movement and melody in the top parts. 

This texture transitioned through E Dorian, with its dark minor 3rd and bright/lifted major 6th; back to E Aeolian, which is more elegiac in quality due to that one note change compared with Dorian — the minor 6th. 

Then, still within E Aeolian, the texture changed again, to a broken triad accompaniment in the left hand (still in quavers) with triadic melody in the right hand, creating lots of upper extensions and a few add 9 chords in the harmony. I really love the sound of add 9 chords (and upper extensions), hence their frequent appearance in my improvisations.

Next, I used a return of the earlier polyrhythm ideas to close the piece.  

Modes used, note names and parent scales

Mode	Notes	Parent scale	Modal origin
E Aeolian	E F♯ G A B C D	G major	6th mode of major (natural minor)
B♭ Lydian	B♭ C D E F G A	F major	4th mode of major
A Mixolydian ♭6	A B C♯ D E F G	D melodic minor	5th mode of melodic minor
E Dorian	E F♯ G A B C♯ D	D major	2nd mode of major

Further reading and listening

Learn more about the natural minor here or about major scales here.

Learn more about modes: Complete Guide to Modes of the Major, Melodic Minor, and Harmonic Minor Scales

You might also like Aster — Improvisation in G♯ Aeolian

Another improvisation using the Aeolian mode is Air: Variation on a Theme — Improvisation in C Aeolian

Listen to more of my improvisations