Chapter 5:
How Keys and Modes REALLY Work

Chapter Index

 
5.1  Scales from Around the World

5.1.1 What Scales Have In Common: Tones In Simple Frequency Ratios

5.1.2 Major Pentatonic Scale

5.1.3 Minor Pentatonic Scale

5.1.4 Why “Similar” Scales Sound So Different: The Staircase Analogy

5.1.5 Blues Scale

5.1.6 An Arabic Scale

5.1.7 Indian or Whole Tone Scale: An Equal-interval Scale That Works

5.1.8 A Chinese Pentatonic Scale

5.1.9 Hungarian Gypsy (Roma) Scale

5.2  The Modes: Scales of the Diatonic Order

5.2.1 The Diatonic Order: A Distinctive Pattern of Tones and Semitones

5.2.2 Flavours of the Diatonic Order

5.2.3 Church a la Mode

5.2.4 Some Popular Songs with Church Mode Melodies

5.2.5 More Scales Than a Catfish (2,047 to be Exact)

5.2.6 Why the Church Modes Didn’t Make the Big Time

5.3  Keys, Major and Minor

5.3.1 The Two Surviving Modes

5.3.2 Keys and Scales

5.3.3 Music’s “Theory of Relativity” (Not to be Confused with Cultural Relativism)

5.3.4 All 12 Major Scales In One Convenient Table

5.3.5 All 12 Descending Melodic Minor Scales In One Convenient Table

5.3.6 All 12 Ascending Melodic Minor Scales In One Convenient Table

5.3.7 All 12 Harmonic Minor Scales In One Convenient Table

5.3.8 How Digger’s 10-Note “Grand Minor Scale” Simplifies Matters

5.3.9 Relative Numbers of Popular Songs In Major Keys, Minor Keys, and Modes

5.3.10 Emotional Effects of Modes

5.4  Tuning, Temperament, and Transposing

5.4.1 “How Come I Can’t Tune this #@*&!% Thing?”

5.4.2 Don’t Lose Your Equal Temperament

5.4.3 “It’s Too Low (or High) for My Voice”: Transposition

5.4.4 How Transposing Instruments Work

5.5  Modulation and Tonality

5.5.1 The Keys, They Are A-changin’ (Good Thing, Too)

5.5.2 A Brief, Star Spangled Modulation

5.5.3 Signalling a Shift In Tonal Centre

5.5.4 “The Centre Cannot Hold” (Or Can It?)

5.5.5 Keys in Cozy Relationships

5.5.6 Octaves and Fifths: Simple Frequency Ratios, Close Relatives

5.5.7 Why Heinichen’s Circle of Fifths, While Somewhat Useful, Is Often Misunderstood and Misused

5.5.8 Tonality and Tonal Music

5.5.9 Distinguishing Tonal Music from Modal Music and Atonal Music

5.5.10 Emotional Effects of Tonality

~ • ~ • ~ • ~

~ • ~ • ~ • ~

 TABLE OF
 CONTENTS

 PART I

 The Big Picture    Introduction

   1. W-5 of Music
   2. Pop Music
       Industry
  
 PART II
 Essential
 Building Blocks
 of Music
   3. Tones/Overtones
   4. Scales/Intervals
   5. Keys/Modes
 
 PART III
 How to Create
 Emotionally
 Powerful Music
 and Lyrics
   6. Chords/
        Progressions

   7. Pulse/Meter/
        Tempo/Rhythm
   8. Phrase/Form
   9. Melody
 10. Lyrics
 11. Repertoire/
        Performance

 PART IV
 Making a
 Living In Music
 12. Business of
        Music
 
 Appendixes

 Notes

 References

 Index
  

   Top

 TABLE OF
 CONTENTS

 PART I

 The Big Picture    Introduction

   1. W-5 of Music
   2. Pop Music
       Industry
  
 PART II
 Essential
 Building Blocks
 of Music
   3. Tones/Overtones
   4. Scales/Intervals
   5. Keys/Modes
 
 PART III
 How to Create
 Emotionally
 Powerful Music
 and Lyrics
   6. Chords/
        Progressions

   7. Pulse/Meter/
        Tempo/Rhythm
   8. Phrase/Form
   9. Melody
 10. Lyrics
 11. Repertoire/
        Performance

 PART IV
 Making a
 Living In Music
 12. Business of
        Music
 
 Appendixes

 Notes

 References

 Index
  

   Top