Lydian mode
The modern Lydian mode is a seven-tone musical scale formed from a rising pattern of pitches comprising three whole tones, a semitone, two more whole tones, and a final semitone.
Because of the importance of the major scale in modern music, the Lydian mode is often described (or learned) as the scale that begins on the fourth scale degree of the major scale, or alternatively, as the major scale with the fourth scale degree raised half a step. This sequence of pitches roughly describes the scale underlying the fifth of the eight Gregorian (church) modes, known as Mode V or the authentic mode on F, theoretically using B♮ but in practice more commonly featuring B♭ (Powers 2001).
Contents
1 Ancient Greek Lydian
2 Medieval Lydian mode
3 Modern Lydian mode
4 Notable compositions in the Lydian mode
4.1 Classical (Ancient Greek)
4.2 Medieval
4.3 Romantic
4.4 Modern
4.5 Jazz
4.6 Popular
4.7 Folk
5 See also
6 References
7 Further reading
8 External links
Ancient Greek Lydian
The name Lydian refers to the ancient kingdom of Lydia in Anatolia. In Greek music theory, there was a Lydian scale or "octave species" extending from parhypate hypaton to trite diezeugmenon, equivalent in the diatonic genus to the medieval and modern Ionian mode (the major scale) (Barbera 1984, 233, 240).
In the chromatic and enharmonic genera, the Lydian scale was equivalent to C D♭ E F G♭ A B C, and C C E F F A B C, respectively (Barker & 1984–89, 2:15), where "" signifies raising the pitch by approximately a quarter tone.
Medieval Lydian mode
In the Middle Ages and Renaissance, this mode was described in two ways. The first way is the diatonic octave species from F up to F an octave above, divided at C to produce two segments:
The second is as a mode with a final on F and an ambitus extending to F an octave higher and in which the note C was regarded as having an important melodic function. Many theorists of the period observed that B♭ is used more typically than B♮ in compositions in Lydian mode (Powers 2001).
Modern Lydian mode
The Lydian scale can be described as a major scale with the fourth scale degree raised a semitone, making it an augmented fourth above the tonic, e.g., an F-major scale with a B♮ rather than B♭. This mode's augmented fourth and the Locrian mode's diminished fifth are the only modes to have a tritone above the tonic.
In Lydian mode, the tonic, dominant, and supertonic triads are all major. The subdominant is diminished. The triads built on the remaining three scale degrees are minor.
Notable compositions in the Lydian mode
Classical (Ancient Greek)
The Paean and Prosodion to the God, familiarly known as the Second Delphic Hymn, composed in 128 BC by Athénaios Athenaíou is predominantly in the Lydian tonos, both diatonic and chromatic, with sections also in Hypolydian (Pöhlmann and West 2001, 85).
Medieval
The 12th-century "Hymn to St. Magnus" from the Orkney Islands, referencing Magnus Erlendsson, Earl of Orkney, is in Gregorian mode or church mode V (F white notes),[citation needed] extending from the E below to the octave above, with B♮'s throughout, in two-part harmony of mostly parallel thirds. The Sanctus, Agnus Dei, and Ite, missa est of Guillaume de Machaut's Messe de Nostre Dame feature extensive use of F♮ and B♮, as well as F♯ and B♭.[clarification needed][citation needed]
Romantic
A rare, extended use of the Lydian mode in the Classical repertoire is Simon Sechter's 1822 Messe in der lydischen Tonart (Mass in the Lydian Mode) (Carver 2005, 76). A more famous example from around the same time is the third movement of Ludwig van Beethoven's String Quartet No. 15 in A minor, Op. 132 (1825), titled by the composer "Heiliger Dankgesang eines Genesenen an die Gottheit, in der lydischen Tonart" ("Holy Song of Thanksgiving by a Convalescent to the Divinity, in the Lydian Mode"). The alternating passages in F use the Lydian scale with sharp fourth scale degree exclusively.
Charles-Valentin Alkan's Allegro barbaro (Étude Op. 35, No. 5, published in 1848) is written strictly in F Lydian, with no B♭'s present at all (Smith 2000,[page needed]).
Anton Bruckner employed the sharpened fourth of the Lydian scale in his motet Os justi (1879) more strictly than Renaissance composers ever did when writing in this mode (Carver 2005, 74–75).
Modern
In the 20th century, composers began once again to exploit modal scales with some frequency. George Enescu, for example, includes Lydian-mode passages in the second and third movements of his 1906 Decet for Winds, Op. 14 (Hoffmann and Rațiu 1971, 319). An example from the middle of the century is the scherzo movement of Carlos Chávez's Symphony No. 3 (1951–54). The movement opens with a fugue subject, featuring extremely wide leaps, in C Lydian with following entries in F and G Lydian (Orbón 1987, 90–91).
Jazz
In Lydian Chromatic Concept of Tonal Organization, George Russell developed a theory that became highly influential in the jazz world, inspiring the works of people such as Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Ornette Coleman, and Woody Shaw (Anon. & n.d.(a))
Popular
- Passage beginning at the words "Much as I definitely enjoy solitude" in the song "Possibly Maybe" by Björk (Hein 2012).
XTC's "Jason and the Argonauts" from their English Settlement album (Preston 2012).- The bass line in The Police's 1983 song "Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic" (Beato 2018).[unreliable source?]
Folk
- Many Polish folksongs, including the mazurka, are in the Lydian mode; the first six notes of this mode were sometimes known as the "Polish mode" (Anon. & n.d.(b)).
See also
Lydian chord—A chord that is related to the Lydian scale- Lydian dominant scale
Kalyani (raga), the equivalent scale (melakarta) in Carnatic music
References
- Anon. n.d.(a) "Frequently Asked Questions about George Russell's Lydian Chromatic Concept of Tonal Organization". www.georgerussell.com (Accessed 23 February 2012).
- Trochimczyk, Maja. n.d.(b) "Mazur (Mazurka)". University of Southern California Polish Music Center website (accessed 12 November 2018).
Barbera, André. 1984. "Octave Species". Journal of Musicology 3, no. 3 (July): 229–41. JSTOR 763813 (Subscription access). doi:10.1525/jm.1984.3.3.03a00020
- Barker, Andrew. 1984–89. Greek Musical Writings. 2 vols. Cambridge Readings in the Literature of Music. Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press.
- Beato, Rick. 2018. "What Makes This Song Great? Ep. 2: The Police". YouTube (26 January; accessed 28 March 2018).
- Benward, Bruce, and Marilyn Nadine Saker. 2009. Music in Theory and Practice, eighth edition, vol. 2. Boston: McGraw-Hill. .mw-parser-output cite.citation{font-style:inherit}.mw-parser-output .citation q{quotes:"""""""'""'"}.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-free a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/65/Lock-green.svg/9px-Lock-green.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-limited a,.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-registration a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d6/Lock-gray-alt-2.svg/9px-Lock-gray-alt-2.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-subscription a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/aa/Lock-red-alt-2.svg/9px-Lock-red-alt-2.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration{color:#555}.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription span,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration span{border-bottom:1px dotted;cursor:help}.mw-parser-output .cs1-ws-icon a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4c/Wikisource-logo.svg/12px-Wikisource-logo.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output code.cs1-code{color:inherit;background:inherit;border:inherit;padding:inherit}.mw-parser-output .cs1-hidden-error{display:none;font-size:100%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-visible-error{font-size:100%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-maint{display:none;color:#33aa33;margin-left:0.3em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration,.mw-parser-output .cs1-format{font-size:95%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-left,.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-wl-left{padding-left:0.2em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-right,.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-wl-right{padding-right:0.2em}
ISBN 978-0-07-310188-0. - Carver, Anthony F. 2005. "Bruckner and the Phrygian Mode". Music and Letters 86, no. 1:74–99. doi:10.1093/ml/gci004 (Subscription access).
- Chase, Wayne. 2006. How Music Really Works!: Musical and Lyrical Techniques of the Masters, second edition. Vancouver: Roedy Black Publishing Inc.
ISBN 1-897311-55-9;
ISBN 1-897311-56-7. - Hein, Ethan. 2012. "The Major Scale Modes". Ethan Hein's Blog: Music, Technology, Evolution (Accessed 26 January 2012).
- Hoffman, Alfred, and Adrian Rațiu. 1971. "Succese ale simfonistului (1900–1906)". In George Enescu: Monografie, 2 vols., edited by Mircea Voicana, 237–329. Bucharest: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România.
- Jones, George Thaddeus. 1974. Music Theory: The Fundamental Concepts of Tonal Music Including Notation, Terminology, and Harmony. Barnes & Noble Outline Series 137. New York, Hagerstown, San Francisco, London: Barnes & Noble.
ISBN 9780064601375. - Miller, Scott. 2002. Mel Bay's Getting Into … Jazz Fusion Guitar. Pacific, Missouri: Mel Bay Publications.
ISBN 0-7866-6248-4. - Orbón, Julián. 1987. "Las sinfonías de Carlos Chávez." (part 2). Pauta: Cuadernos de teoría y crítica musical 6, no. 22 (April–June): 81–91.
- Pöhlmann, Egert, and Martin L. West. 2001. Documents of Ancient Greek Music: The Extant Melodies and Fragments, edited and transcribed with commentary by Egert Pöhlmann and Martin L. West. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
ISBN 0-19-815223-X. - Powers, Harold S. 2001. "Lydian". The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, second edition, edited by Stanley Sadie and John Tyrrell, 15:409–10. 29 vols. London: Macmillan Publishers.
ISBN 978-1-56159-239-5 (set)
ISBN 978-0-19-517067-2 (set)
OCLC 44391762 (set)
OCLC 248649842 (v. 15)
OCLC 249589729 (v. 15, reprint with minor corr.) LCCN 00-55156 or 00055156 (set). - Smith, Ronald. 2000. Alkan, the Man, the Music. London: Kahn & Averill.
ISBN 9781871082739. - Preston, William. 2012, p. 25. "Funk Pop a Roll : The Stylistic Evolution of XTC". Portland, Oregon: Lewis and Clark College.
Further reading
Hewitt, Michael. 2013. Musical Scales of the World. The Note Tree.
ISBN 978-0957547001.[full citation needed]
External links
- The Lydian mode in all seven three note per string positions, with intervals mapped out for guitar.
Lydian mode in six positions for guitar at GOSK.com- Lydian Mode - Analysis
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