Here is a video in which you can hear me playing an improvised piece of music which I named The Shared Night Star. I was inspired by the idea of the same star in a shared night sky bridging separate lands, even separate worlds, reminding us that we are all looking up at the same sky and seeing the same light, even in darkness, even from our different perspectives. Sometimes the star burns brightly, sometimes it is almost hidden, or just a faint glow, depending on the viewpoint. In this piece of music, the three modes share one tone that changes the angle of light of each — the gravity-filled tonic aka home note of the shadowed Aeolian mode is the dark note of the mysterious Dorian ♯4 mode, and it is the light note of the twilit Mixolydian ♭6 mode. And the piece returns to that tonic for the end, as if it is a star guiding us home.
I started this improvisation in C sharp Aeolian (aka natural minor) — the elegiac shadows of the Aeolian mode are created by the dark minor 3rd, 6th and 7th degrees. The tonic of any mode or key is the first degree of the scale/mode, also referred to as a “home note” because it tends to sound like home when we land on it. It has a gravitational pull, which is especially strong in certain modes and scales, including the natural minor.
Next I modulated to the mysterious and ambiguous B flat Dorian sharp 4 mode. Its darkness and sorrow is created in large part by its minor 3rd degree, which is D♭, whose enharmonic equivalent is C♯ (i.e. it’s the same note) — the home note of C♯ Aeolian. The darkness is compounded by the harmonic minor structure, with tension in the augmented 4th degree destabilising the mode, and paradoxical light in the major 6th. The resulting character is a mode that can’t quite settle, it is untethered in its mourning — its home note doesn’t have as much gravity as the Aeolian mode.
Then I modulated to A Mixolydian ♭6 whose magical and ambiguous half-light character is created by the bright major 3rd combined with the shaded minor 6th and 7th. That bright major 3rd is C♯ — the home note of C♯ Aeolian again, and the home note of the whole piece.
Mode Table
| Mode | Note Names | Parent Scale | Modal Relationship |
|---|---|---|---|
| C♯ Aeolian (Natural Minor) | C♯ – D♯ – E – F♯ – G♯ – A – B | E Major | 6th mode of E Major |
| B♭ Dorian ♯4 | B♭ – C – D♭ – E – F – G – A♭ | F Harmonic Minor | 4th mode of F Harmonic Minor |
| A Mixolydian ♭6 | A – B – C♯ – D – E – F – G | D Melodic Minor | 5th mode of D Melodic Minor |
Interval Formulas
Aeolian Mode Formula:
1 – 2 – ♭3 – 4 – 5 – ♭6 – ♭7
Root, Major 2nd, Minor 3rd, Perfect 4th, Perfect 5th, Minor 6th, Minor 7th
Dorian ♯4 Mode Formula:
1 – 2 – ♭3 – ♯4 – 5 – 6 – ♭7
Root, Major 2nd, Minor 3rd, Augmented 4th, Perfect 5th, Major 6th, Minor 7th
Mixolydian ♭6 Mode Formula:
1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5 – ♭6 – ♭7
Root, Major 2nd, Major 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
