This video captures an improvisation of mine which I named Where Forget-Me-Nots Grow. I was inspired by my memory of being enchanted by carpets of forget-me-not flowers growing in a garden when I was a young child — their striking blues and sometimes pinks looked so magical. Forget-me-nots thrive in damp shaded corners where other plants often fail, and I see a metaphor for resilience, and finding something hopeful within shadow. They symbolise mourning and remembrance, and their melancholy blue petals contrast with the brighter yellow-gold centres — making me think of bittersweet nostalgia, and light within sorrow. The flowers are a reminder that something beautiful can still survive where there is darkness.
In this piece of music, I started in D Aeolian — the Aeolian mode (aka natural minor) tends to be quite dark, but I also made extensive use of the major quality chords within the mode, which added lift and a hopeful brightness.
I very briefly moved through E flat Lydian — the Lydian mode is the brightest mode of the major scale. This created an illuminated path to the related mode, G Aeolian (it is of the same parent scale) which took us back into shade again.
A brief transition through G Phrygian on the way to C Aeolian darkened the shadows further.
The G Dorian sharp 4 mode brought a mysterious and unsettled augmented tension (due to the harmonic minor augmented 2nd interval between the B♭ and C♯) — a jagged edge cutting through the smoother contours of the Aeolian grief.
Then the music resolved back into D Aeolian, with the C♯ of the G Dorian ♯4 mode acting like a leading note (giving the A major chord a dominant function — functioning as chord V of D minor) into the D minor sound world, and D natural minor (Aeolian) is where the piece closed.
Modes Used, Note Names and Parent Scales
| Mode | Note Names | Parent Scale | Modal Relationship |
|---|---|---|---|
| D Aeolian | D, E, F, G, A, B♭, C | F Major | 6th Mode |
| E♭ Lydian | E♭, F, G, A, B♭, C, D | B♭ Major | 4th Mode |
| G Aeolian | G, A, B♭, C, D, E♭, F | B♭ Major | 6th Mode |
| G Phrygian | G, A♭, B♭, C, D, E♭, F | E♭ Major | 3rd Mode |
| C Aeolian | C, D, E♭, F, G, A♭, B♭ | E♭ Major | 6th Mode |
| G Dorian ♯4 | G, A, B♭, C♯, D, E, F | D Harmonic Minor | 4th Mode |
Interval Formulas
- Aeolian: 1 — 2 — ♭3 — 4 — 5 — ♭6 — ♭7
- Lydian: 1 — 2 — 3 — ♯4 — 5 — 6 — 7
- Phrygian: 1 — ♭2 — ♭3 — 4 — 5 — ♭6 — ♭7
- Dorian ♯4: 1 — 2 — ♭3 — ♯4 — 5 — 6 — ♭7
Further Reading and Listening
Learn more about modes: Complete Guide to Modes of the Major, Melodic Minor, and Harmonic Minor Scales
A Map Traced in the Heart — Improvisation in C Mixolydian & F Dorian ♯4
