Composition

[jasipi]

I'm curious about modes. Some people don't take kindly to the concept of modes, i suppose they're outdated or something?

I was curious about the tonality of modes, and tonality in general. I don't think i know all the necessary stuff about tonality but i'll ask my questions anyways and someone can tell me the deal.

Basically as i understand tonality mainly refers to the Tonic and Dominant which firmly establish a key, and therefore the overall tonality, yes? Please correct me if i'm wrong. Now i was curious seeing how C major and relative A minor have their own unique tonality, do all the modes have their own unique tonality? Makes sense to me.

The main question is that i would like to know if it's possible to create a melody and progression based around the Dorian mode or basically all white keys but using D as the Tonic so to speak? Does doing this create a new tonality? The progression i used was Dmin, Gmaj, Fmaj7 and Dmin again. Now seeing how the B note in the Gmaj chord was natural would i be able to refer to this as D Dorian mode? I would also be okay with saying the key was D minor but with a borrowed G Major. Someone else also mentioned to me it could be utilizing the D Melodic minor scale. But it's modes i'm asking about.

Going from Fmaj7 to Dmin, is this a cadence? It sounds like a nice resolution to me, but i'm unsure if a cadence only refers to Dominant to Tonic resolution?

Any information on the subject would be great. Thank you

[starstruck5]

You are basically describing Tonic-Dominant tonality much used by Western Classical and Romantic composers.  Pop music is essentially tonal in nature -but it doesn't necessarily revolve around Tonic-Dominant progressions.

Modes if you think about it are merely displacements of the Major scale -

If you take a semitone to be an interval of 1 -then a C Major scale could be described -

+2+2+1+2+2+2+1   

Each displacement on the white notes of a piano keyboard give the following modes -

d1 -D -= Dorian           d3 - F = Lydian            d5 -A = Aeolian
d2--E =  Phrygian        d4 - G = Mixolydian       d6- B = Locrian

If you were to begin each mode in C -you would have to add the following accidentals:

Dorian =      Bb + Eb
Phrygian =   Bb +Eb +Ab + Db
Lydian =      F#
Mixolydian = Bb
Aeolian     = Bb + Eb + Ab
Locrain     = Bb + Eb + Ab + Db + Gb

So it is perfectly possible to make a modal transposition in C just by ammending the accidentals. 

Also if you think of the way the roots of chords move from one note to another, (diatonically) there are 6 possibilities -

The root can go up a fourth or down a fifth -
UP a third or down a third
Up a second or down a second

You can make cycles of Progressions from this system.

Joseph Schillinger gave us this method in his book -The Schillinger System of Musical Composition -

He described those root movements thus =( EXAMPLES IN C Major)

Cycle of the Third = C3    - c-a-f-d-b-g-e-c
Cycles of the Fifth = C5  -  c-f-b-e-a-d-g-c
Cycle of the Seventh =C7   c-d-e-f-g-a-b-c

Cycle of Negative Third -C-3 = C-E-G-B-D-F-A-C
Cycle of Negative Fifth - C-5 = C-G-D-A-E-B-F-C
Cycle of Negative Seventh C-7 = C-B-A-G-F-E-D-C

Schillinger says that though the common belief is that the progression from the tonic to the dominant and back to the tonic (ending cadence in C5_ is the foundation of diatonic harmony -historical evidence as well as mathematical analysis prove the contrary -

He goes on to show examples from the 15th and 16th century where the cycles of thirds were common -

The cycle of the seventh has a purely contrapuntal derivation -he shows that the progression where B rises to C and D falls to C -you get a cadence in C7 -

I won't go into this any more deeply -but your progression F to D has very ancient roots -and is indeed a cadence in C3 -because it ends on the key note.

Of course these cycles appear mostly in hybrid form -but if you are really interested study the Schillinger System!

[chopin2015]

Dorian
1 2 b3 4 5 6 b7 8
Phrygian
1 b2 b3 4 5 b6 b7 8
Lydian
1 2 3 #4 5 6 7 8
Mixolydian
1 2 3 4 5 6 b7 8
Aeolian
1 2 b3 4 5 b6 b7 8
Locrian
1 b2 b3 4 b5 b6 b7 8

[ajspiano]

The main question is that i would like to know if it's possible to create a melody and progression based around the Dorian mode

Yes, go listen to some modal jazz.

miles davis "so what" is the most obvious and well known one that comes to my mind. Its primarily D dorian - and just that one chord for most of the work. Though of course has the chromatic key change up to Eb dorian.

[jasipi]

Of course these cycles appear mostly in hybrid form -but if you are really interested study the Schillinger System!

Thank you!! I definitely will study the Schillinger System, you have been the greatest help yet!!