Here is a video capturing a piece of music I improvised on the piano and named The Midnight Blue Woods. As usual, I sat at the piano without a plan, and decided to see what emerges. The music felt like following a momentum down a previously hidden path, into the unseen secrets of a dark, enclosed space, but then once in that space, it is more expansive than it first seemed. It was a feeling of stepping off the paved, manicured road into a wild self-governed terrain, where the vines and roots grow naturally in their reclaimed world, and bioluminescence of life energy generates a magical internal glow, no longer needing an artificial lantern to light the way. It’s not quite the nocturnal blackness and oblivion of the deepest darkest night, but instead the midnight blue of illuminated mystery. 

Mode Table Showing Note Names and Parent Scales

Mode	Note Names	Parent Scale	Modal Relationship
B Dorian	B – C♯ – D – E – F♯ – G♯ – A	A Major	2nd mode of A Major
A Lydian ♯2	A – B♯ – C♯ – D♯ – E – F♯ – G♯	C♯ Harmonic Minor	6th mode of C♯ Harmonic Minor
B Phrygian	B – C – D – E – F♯ – G – A	G Major	3rd mode of G Major
C Mixolydian ♭6	C – D – E – F – G – A♭ – B♭	F Melodic Minor	5th mode of F Melodic Minor

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

Learn more about the Dorian mode

Lydian ♯2 Mode Formula:

1 – ♯2 – 3 – ♯4 – 5 – 6 – 7

Root, Augmented 2nd, Major 3rd, Augmented 4th, Perfect 5th, Major 6th, Major 7th

Learn more about the Lydian sharp 2 mode

Phrygian Mode Formula:

1 – ♭2 – ♭3 – 4 – 5 – ♭6 – ♭7

Root, Minor 2nd, Minor 3rd, Perfect 4th, Perfect 5th, Minor 6th, Minor 7th

Learn more about the Phrygian mode

Mixolydian ♭6 Mode Formula:

1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5 – ♭6 – ♭7

Root, Major 2nd, Major 3rd, Perfect 4th, Perfect 5th, Minor 6th, Minor 7th

Learn more about the Mixolydian flat 6 mode

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

The Star So Far Away — Improvisation in G Lydian ♯2 & B Aeolian 

Palimpsest — Improvisation in B♭ Dorian & G Aeolian

Where Edges Dissolve — Improvisation in F Aeolian, B♭ Dorian & A♭ Lydian

An Autumn Sky — Improvisation in E Dorian, G Ionian Augmented & B Mixolydian ♭6

Raising Awareness for Cats Protection Via Improvisation — The Oldest Star