Here is a video in which you can hear me playing a piece of music I improvised on the piano and named Palimpsest. It was a feeling of overlapping layers of history, where a shift into different modes still carried faint traces of the previous mode. The old timeline with its distinct character was never completely erased, and its vestiges continued to shape the current modal character. Past choices left shadows on the current existence.
I started this improvisation in B flat Dorian, with its shadowed and sorrowful minor 3rd and hopeful and light major 6th.
A modulation into the darker G Aeolian carried that shadow through, darkening the Aeolian mode even further, in the way a ghost imprint of the minor 3rd of B flat Dorian (D♭) persisted for a brief moment, becoming a dark diminished 5th of the Gm chord, before resolving into a perfect 5th.
Then the modulation back into B flat Dorian carried traces of the G Aeolian mode for a fleeting moment, with the perfect 5th of G Aeolian (D) lifting the sound of chord IV in B flat Dorian, turning it into a major 7th, contradicting the minor 3rd degree of the mode (which is D♭). However this lift didn’t create hope, instead it created disquiet — an unsettling feeling of displaced nostalgia.
Mode Table
| Mode | Note Names | Parent Scale | Modal Relationship |
|---|---|---|---|
| B♭ Dorian | B♭ – C – D♭ – E♭ – F – G – A♭ | A♭ Major | 2nd mode of A♭ Major |
| G Aeolian (Natural Minor) | G – A – B♭ – C – D – E♭ – F | B♭ Major | 6th mode of B♭ Major |
Interval Formulas
Dorian Mode Formula:
1 – 2 – ♭3 – 4 – 5 – 6 – ♭7
Root, Major 2nd, Minor 3rd, Perfect 4th, Perfect 5th, Major 6th, Minor 7th
Aeolian Mode Formula:
1 – 2 – ♭3 – 4 – 5 – ♭6 – ♭7
Root, Major 2nd, Minor 3rd, Perfect 4th, Perfect 5th, Minor 6th, Minor 7th
Further Reading and Listening
Learn more about modes here: Complete Guide to Modes of the Major, Melodic Minor, and Harmonic Minor Scales
How to Improvise on the Piano — A Basic Method
