Discussions > Tunes
The Melodeon Mode Show (writing/sharing modal tunes)
Gena Crisman:
Know what I think is pretty cool? Modes!
We've had threads about modes before, but, I'd like this one to be a bit different? Rather than finding music written, especially for other instruments, and interpret / work out / talk about what mode it is, I'd like a more practical thread! One about choosing to write some music in modes that are playable on our/your/someone's instrument, and seeing if doing that can teach us anything interesting about how we can play our melodeons.
Disclaimer: This is an exercise that is likely best enjoyed by people who like to compose, and/or, are prepared to cross row to find pleasing chord accompaniments. If you're like 'oh boy, playing my DG in B minor for this month's Tune of the Month was so cool' then this could be just the kind of fun you're looking for!
Crumbs! I sure want to talk about modes now!
Now, believe you me, I could write several very large, long posts about modes and playing them on the Melodeon. Suffice it to say, if you're not sure what a mode is, basically, take a scale, for example, the G major scale, and instead of the note G and the chord G being "Home", you pick a different note and use the diatonic chord related to it, so, for example A, and the A minor chord, and then you kinda just... see what happens. If you were to do that, you'd get A Dorian. However, you can start from any of the notes, and you get a different progression which will all foster tunes with different feels from one another. We sort of already do this: When DG players play in E natural minor, we use exactly the same notes as we do for G major, E F# G A B C D E, we just start and stop on E instead. Notice though, we kind of play the Em tune mostly on the D row. The take away is that, while you'll use the notes of a major scale, in the name of fluency of playing and accompaniment, the way you play the tune will most likely not just follow a single row.
Modes generally have names, depending on which note and which scale they use. You've probably heard of Dorian and Mixolydian already. What seems to be being called 'Natural Minor' is also known as the Aeolian mode, and the major scale itself can be called Ionian. There are a few other modes of the major scale though; notably Phrygian and Lydian, but also Locrian. A whole tune in Locrian probably isn't viable for a variety of reasons.
Taking the show on the mode!
So I decided, ok: just pick a mode, and have a go. I've been on an adventure of writing simple little tunes to explore what it's like to play in modes. I have a couple of Phrygian tunes to share with you, to show what it can be like to play those. The Phrygian mode is built from the 3rd Scale degree, so whatever the 3rd note of your major scale is, you'd start there.
If you happen to be a DG player, we know we must therefore have all the notes we need to play in B phrygian on the G row, and F# Phrygian on the D row. Generally, the best chords to use when playing a mode are the ones that highlight what is 'special' about the mode compared to more common scales. Phrygian is 'a bit like' natural minor - the main difference is that the 2nd note of the scale is flattened so, for B phrygian, instead of the C# of B natural minor, we use a C natural. Thus, the best chords are obviously going to be the tonic chord, i (B minor), and chords that will include that C note - A minor (vii) and C major (II). Other chords work too, but, by generally choosing these chords, we really will make the tune feel different to B minor.
If one had a 12 bass, you might also be able to try F# Phrygian. But, I don't! So, B phrygian is my only real choice, and I'm cool with that. In that case I'd want to underpin the melody with F# minor, E minor, and G major.
I'll make a 2nd post with a couple of tunes which I wrote in this mode!
OK so that's nice, why is this a thread again?
Dear reader! I would like to invite you, one and all, to turn your creative juices towards the possibility of writing some fun / silly / simple / any tunes in a mode of your choosing, to expand the selection that exists in the folk world. They don't need to exude creative talent, your tune will be special simply because it exists!
Honestly the most useful and encouraging piece of content I have found in terms of making me think 'oh yeah I could do that' are this series of videos from a channel called Signals Music Studio. Sure, it's for guitars, so much content on youtube is. But, I've found them very, very, helpful and informative! This, specifically, is his video on the Phrygian mode.
Gena Crisman:
Day For Night (B Phrygian) 3/4 Waltz
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L68WtHT5HEk
For this tune, I stuck with solely the B minor, A minor, C major trio.
The name comes from a film making term where you shoot footage during the day and attempt to later darken it to make it look like night time, often due the budgetary & technology constraints of getting good footage in the dark. So, trying to spooky, but, really just ends up being a bit weird.
--- Code: ---X:3
T:Day For Night
C:Gena Crisman 29/11/18
%%titlefont Consolas, 22
%%subtitlefont Consolas, 16
%%partsfont Consolas, 20
%%partsbox
%%gchordfont Consolas, 18
%%MIDI program 21 % Accordion
%%MIDI chordprog 1 % Piano
M:3/4
L:1/8
P:ABAB
K:BPhrygian
% Useful chords are scale degree i II vii
% These are: Bm C major A minor
% So we have a small probelm: ABC2Midi puts C as the start of the accompaniment
% Where as on the melodeon, the 3 chords are all adjacent
% This is a vital element, so, uh, yeah:
% this is the hack I have done to make that work, the chord progression needs to be
% written out in full:
%%MIDI chordname hi 12 16 19
P:A
%%MIDI gchordbars 8
%%MIDI gchord fccfccfccfccfccGccfccfcc
"Bm" B4F2 | "Bm" .B2 BA GF | "Am" .E2 EF G2 | "Bm" F4-F D|
"Bm" F4DF | "Chi" G2c2G2 | "Bm" F2 D2 F2 | "Am" E4-E A :|
P:B
%%MIDI gchordbars 8
%%MIDI gchord fccGccfccfccfccGccGccfcc
"Bm" [B]2 FB df | "Chi" g2 gf eg | "Bm" f2de fg| "Am" e2 cd ec |
"Bm" f2 fe d2 | "Chi" ce g2 fe | "Chi" .c2 "b"cB "a" Ac | "Bm" B6 :|
--- End code ---
The Clam Lady (B Phrygian) 6/8 Jig
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04Dq24jokS8
I got a bit more adventurous since I felt like I knew how the tune 'ought' to feel, and could tell if I was detracting from that with my chord choices. I also decided to sneak in a C# towards the end, but I did also rewrite the last line of music 3 times, as you can see in the ABC.
In principal, this tune is a companion to the well known and rather jolly tune 'Oyster Girl', often played in G major here in the UK. I like to think that the Clam Lady is the Oyster Girl's weird aunt. Much like Oyster Girl, there is actually also a 3rd part to this tune, but, so far as I know, nobody plays it!
--- Code: ---X:11
T:The Clam Lady
C:Gena Crisman 02/02/2018
%%titlefont Consolas, 22
%%subtitlefont Consolas, 16
%%partsfont Consolas, 20
%%partsbox
%%gchordfont Consolas, 18
%%MIDI program 21 % Accordion
%%MIDI chordprog 1 % Piano
M:6/8
Q:3/8=100
P:ABAB
L:1/8
K:BPhrygian
P:A
"Bm"B2B BcB|"Am"AGE E3|"G"G2F "C"EGc|"Bm"B3 F3|
"Bm"B2B BcB|"Am"c2e c3|"Em"e2g "Am"edc|"Bm"B3 B3:|
P:B
"Bm"fgf d2B|"Am"c2c "D"A3|"Em"BAB "C"G2c|"Bm"B3 F3|
%"Bm"Bcd "D"def |"G"g2a "C"g2f|"Bm"b2a fed |"Bm" B6 :|
%"Bm"B2F "D"DFA |"G"B2d "C"c2G |"Bm"FEF d^c=c |"Bm" B3 B3 :|
"Bm"B2F "Em"G2E |"D"FDF "C"E2G|"Bm"FEF d^c=c |"Bm" B3 B3 :|
--- End code ---
editing to add:
OK, you've convinced me, any tips on writing a tune?
The first step I take when writing tunes like this - simple tunes that follow some rules - I start with a chord progression. I either try to get a feel for what type of tune I want to make, perhaps I'm feeling like a Jig, or maybe a Hornpipe? If I have no inclination, just... pick one! You can always write another tune tomorrow.
Then, it can be as simple as playing eg the tonic chord (or not, as pointed out below!), and picking a chord you like the sound of to go after it. And then one to go after that. Or, you can decide how you want to start, and where you want to end up, and then slowly work from either end to figure out your route by finding chords that sound good to move from/to. If you stick to 8 bar repeats, then that gives you a structure to follow. Sometime, though, I pick something to start on because I don't really know what to do with it, and then try to figure out what to do!
If you can figure out a chord progression, or even a partial one, then you can start working on writing a melody over those chords. If you're playing a fourth apart box, figure out what the matching right hand side chord is to go with your left hand side chord, and then aim to be playing some of those notes as your melody, especially on the beats. You can use that to build out a basic structure for your melody. For example if you have two bars of Bm chords in a row, you could start one bar on B, and start the next bar on F#, and figure out some sequence of notes that you like to get you from one to the other later. Then if the chord shifts to Am, maybe play a note in that chord that is close to where you finished the last bar, so perhaps an E? You get to decide!
Try to write melody notes that will coincide with what you know your instrument can play on the beats you'll play the basses. Otherwise, just noodle around! I find rules like "Only Use Bm Am and C" useful because I didn't know what a Phrygian tune sounded like, but, these are not real rules - you can do whatever. You can certainly keep a tune with only a few chords interesting - if you write a chord progression and you're feeling like 'oh this is dull', it livens up a lot when you have a tune on top. But, I'd say one thing to try to encourage you to do is to play around with the melody's rhythm from the get go - try not to just play on the beat every bar, or keep the same rhythm bar to bar.
I actually mostly compose in ABC, so, I can't actually play several of the tunes I've written. As I learn them/play a new mode, I'll try to post here any thoughts or observations about how to play in them.
Tone Dumb Greg:
Plenty of food for thought. One comment I would make is that there's no reason why the tune has to start with the tonic, or even the associated chord. They do resolve on it, but not always at the end of the tune.
Steve_freereeder:
--- Quote from: Tone Dumb Greg on March 09, 2019, 11:53:06 PM ---Plenty of food for thought. One comment I would make is that there's no reason why the tune has to start with the tonic, or even the associated chord. They do resolve on it, but not always at the end of the tune.
--- End quote ---
Beethoven started his first symphony with a dominant chord, resolving to the tonic. Very daring for its time. The story goes that at its first performance it nearly caused a riot.
Winston Smith:
Gena, this seems to have really gotten under your skin. Your excitement comes across very plainly, and is infectious! Good luck with your efforts and be sure to enjoy the journey.
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