In this video you can hear me playing an improvised piece of music which I named Where Edges Dissolve. Whilst improvising this piece, there was a feeling of one mode blending into another with each change, like a cross-fade, where the edges between them were no longer defined. It was like watercolour on wet paper where the colours bleed into one another, or a partial eclipse where the light and qualities of the shadows slowly change, and the differences are distinct yet subtle. It was a gradient between quiet sorrow, hope, and expansiveness.
I started this improvisation in F Aeolian, which is introspective and sorrowful in its natural minor sound of dark minor 3rd, 6th and 7th degrees.
The music very soon shifted into B flat Dorian, which still had sorrow in its minor 3rd, but with more light and warmth due to the hope in its major 6th. As B flat Dorian shares the same parent scale as F Aeolian, the pitch collection was the same, resulting in a blurring of the harmonic boundaries, and instead of transporting into another world, it was more like turning around in the same land to see another perspective.
When the music dissolved into A flat Lydian, the pitch collection only changed a single note, resulting in an adjacent colour (and adjacent parent scale on the cycle of 5ths) that was more bright and expansive due to the distinctive augmented 4th degree of the Lydian mode.
The music cycled through these three modes, repeatedly dissolving the edges between each distinct character.
Mode Table
| Mode | Note Names | Parent Scale | Modal Relationship |
|---|---|---|---|
| F Aeolian (Natural Minor) | F – G – A♭ – B♭ – C – D♭ – E♭ | A♭ Major | 6th mode of A♭ Major |
| B♭ Dorian | B♭ – C – D♭ – E♭ – F – G – A♭ | A♭ Major | 2nd mode of A♭ Major |
| A♭ Lydian | A♭ – B♭ – C – D – E♭ – F – G | E♭ Major | 4th mode of E♭ Major |
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 Mode Formula:
1 – 2 – ♭3 – 4 – 5 – 6 – ♭7
Root, Major 2nd, Minor 3rd, Perfect 4th, Perfect 5th, Major 6th, Minor 7th
Lydian Mode Formula:
1 – 2 – 3 – ♯4 – 5 – 6 – 7
Root, Major 2nd, Major 3rd, Augmented 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
