In this video you can hear me playing a piece of music I improvised and named The Heart of a Ruby. The darkness and rich deep colours of the modes and parent scales brought to my mind a ruby — with its intense crimson, sometimes with a whisper of violet and orange, and hidden depths inside an unyielding incorruptible centre. Rubies are rare treasures of nature, forged in subterranean darkness, intense heat and crushing pressure, to become resilient and unbreakable gems, with a sparkle on the surface and a darkly guarded secret core. 

I started this improvisation in E flat Dorian sharp 4. For me, the key of E♭ has a rich and velvety colour and texture, which combined with the darkness of the harmonic minor structure of the Dorian ♯4 mode, and the glints of light in the augmented 4th degree to evoke the image of the passionate and exotic red ruby.

The E flat Dorian mode changes a single note — the augmented 4th degree becomes a perfect 4th — creating more earthy stability and groundedness, but maintaining some of that subterranean darkness in its minor 3rd, and sparkling facets in its major 6th. This creates a kind of warmth and safety — like the safely preserved heart of the ruby. The dual nature of Dorian’s bright major 6th and dark minor 3rd reflects that duality of the glimmering surface and hidden shadowed interior of the gem. 

Then a return to E flat Dorian sharp 4 acknowledges the imperfect jagged darkness and fractured internal shadows and glints of light in its jagged harmonic minor contours. The distance between the 3rd and 4th degrees of the mode, being a minor 3rd and an augmented 4th from the root respectively, creates a melodic interval of an augmented 2nd — a three semitone gap that disrupts the usual smooth scalar stepwise movement.

Mode Table

Mode	Note Names	Parent Scale	Modal Relationship
E♭ Dorian ♯4	E♭ – F – G♭ – A – B♭ – C – D♭	B♭ Harmonic Minor	4th mode of B♭ Harmonic Minor
E♭ Dorian	E♭ – F – G♭ – A♭ – B♭ – C – D♭	D♭ Major	2nd mode of D♭ Major

Interval Formulas

Dorian ♯4 Mode Formula:

1 – 2 – ♭3 – ♯4 – 5 – 6 – ♭7

Root, Major 2nd, Minor 3rd, Augmented 4th, Perfect 5th, Major 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

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

Water Lilies — Improvisation in D Phrygian, G Aeolian, E♭ Major, B♭ Lydian & D Aeolian

Sunlit Door of Shadow — Improvisation in A Lydian & E♭ Aeolian