Today I felt like exploring the mysterious dark-bright hybrid sound of the E Mixolydian ♭6 mode. I mentioned in an earlier post that the feel of the Mixolydian ♭6 mode reminds me of lucid dreaming: everything is bright and vivid, but the shadows don’t quite behave how they’re supposed to. This paradoxically real yet unreal, grounded yet unsettled feel really draws me in. I paired this mode with another slightly unsettled and ambiguous sounding mode: the A Dorian ♯4 mode. In a lucid dream, the logic is almost right, but then you encounter a slight structural anomaly that alerts you to the fact that it’s actually a dream. This seems to be reflected in the interplay between modes I chose: The E Mixolydian ♭6 mode sounds like a regular major scale until you reach that flat 6 (and flat 7). It pulls the lightness down into an unexpectedly shaped shadow. The A Dorian ♯4 mode feels like a regular minor scale, with its melancholy darkness, until you hear that sharpened 4th which unexpectedly pulls the shadow up, like a glitch in the expected darkness.
The brightness in the Mixolydian ♭ 6 mode comes from its major 3rd. The paradoxical darkness comes from its flattened 6th. As well as sounding magical, otherworldly and ambiguous, I sometimes find it can have quite a resolute and majestic feel, which is something that influenced how I ended up improvising with it today — using a more block chordal texture in both hands than usual.
This improvisation starts with fast descending arpeggio figures in the right hand, outlining chords in the E Mixolydian ♭ 6 mode, while the left hand plays a melody in octaves.
Then I move to a texture that consists of those aforementioned block chords in the left hand (as well as octaves outlining the roots of chords), and a right hand melody dominated by harmonic 3rds. Occasional spread chords appear here, as well as throughout the piece.
Next, the music modulates to A Dorian ♯ 4, first with triads in the right hand, and octaves in the left hand stating the root; then with fast descending right hand arpeggios and left hand melody in octaves, echoing the texture of the introduction section, but this time with a gentler, more dream-like feel.
Then the music modulates back to E Mixolydian ♭ 6, using the block chordal left hand texture from before, along with right hand melody.
The piece closes with a progression of block chords in both hands, with a spread (or rolled) embellishment.
Modes used, parent scales and note names
E Mixolydian ♭6 is the 5th mode of the A melodic minor scale. A Dorian ♯4 is the 4th mode of the E harmonic minor scale. Here is a table showing their note names:
| Mode | Parent Scale | Notes of the Mode |
|---|---|---|
| E Mixolydian ♭6 | A melodic minor | E F♯ G♯ A B C D |
| A Dorian ♯4 | E harmonic minor | A B C D♯ E F♯ G |
Learn more about modes in general here: Complete Guide to Modes of the Major, Melodic Minor, and Harmonic Minor Scales
Dorian ♯4 Mode Explained and How to Work it Out, With Note Names in All 12 Keys
Listen to more improvisations using the Mixolydian flat 6 mode
For contrasting modes listen to The Purkinje Sunken Garden — Improvisation in F Minor, B♭ Lydian Dominant, F Phrygian & E♭ Dorian
You might also like Other, Part II — Improvisation in B Aeolian, B♭ Lydian ♯ 2 & A Phrygian Dominant
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