Here is a video in which you can hear me playing a piece of music I improvised and named The Alternate Shade. The title reflects the chromatic slides into alternate modal colours, like sidestepping into an alternate universe, where the structures and characters are similar, but the shadows are slightly different. The chromatic half steps into other modes were like slipping into a hidden parallel reality existing just beneath the surface, and viewing life in an alternate light. Everything seems ordinary and harmonious until a disorientating shift throws us into an alternate universe, which in itself seems apparently normal, if it weren’t for the fact that it is a parallel version in another colour. 

I started this improvisation in F sharp Dorian, which with its subtle jazz and folk inflected harmonies and grounded perfect 4th and 5th, feels and sounds seemingly normal, even while its minor 3rd expresses sorrow along with its wistful major 6th. 

However a chromatic slide into the completely unrelated, yet still regular sounding F Aeolian, created a disorientating feeling of falling through a portal into another universe. Once fully immersed in the alternate reality of F Aeolian, there was more shade and sorrow in its natural minor structure.

Another chromatic slide into the very distant (distant on the cycle of 5ths) but parallel F sharp Aeolian created another shift into an alternate shade. 

A pivot into the brighter D major (Ionian) cast more illumination on some recurring motifs, like seeing things from another perspective, coloured in an alternative light. 

Mode Table

Mode	Note Names	Parent Scale	Modal Relationship
F♯ Dorian	F♯ – G♯ – A – B – C♯ – D♯ – E	E Major	2nd mode of E Major
F Aeolian (Natural Minor)	F – G – A♭ – B♭ – C – D♭ – E♭	A♭ Major	6th mode of A♭ Major
F♯ Aeolian (Natural Minor)	F♯ – G♯ – A – B – C♯ – D – E	A Major	6th mode of A Major
D Major (Ionian)	D – E – F♯ – G – A – B – C♯	D Major	1st mode of D 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

Major (Ionian) Mode Formula:

1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5 – 6 – 7

Root, Major 2nd, Major 3rd, Perfect 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

How to Improvise on the Piano — A Basic Method

Half a Step Elsewhere — Improvisation in C Dorian & B Dorian

Selenic Raindrops — Improvisation in G Dorian ♭2, G Dorian, G Phrygian & D Mixolydian ♭6

Rooted in the Sunlight — Improvisation in E Dorian & B♭ Lydian