When explaining modes to a beginner, I will start with an example...
The song "Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme - Scarborough Fair" (Simon and
Garfunkle - most students already know this melody) "lives" in 3rd
position, or Dorian Mode. Will have them learn it.
-----Original Message-----
From: Winslow Yerxa <winslowyerxa@xxxxxxxxx>
To: Harp- L <harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Thu, Jun 26, 2014 10:24 pm
Subject: Re: [Harp-L] explain positions to beginner
My Book Harmonica For Dummies takes you through six of the positions on a
diatonic harmonica and briefly mentions the default mode for each of these
positions. However, instead of explaining the details, I give you playing
examples to explore that position on harmonica.
For more detailed information on modes, try these websites:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mode_(music)#Modern
(The modern modes is the section that's most relevant for your
purposes.The idea
of modes goes back to the ancient Greeks, but it's changed a lot over the
centuries.)
I'm looking for other sites. All of them state the first concept - that
you take
the same group of notes and make any one of them the tonal center. So you
can
have as many different modes as you have notes in the scale.
However, none of the sites I've found so far gives the reason -- why you'd
bother to explore different modes. The reason is that when you take a
scale and
center it in a different place, yyou actually get a different scale - same
ingredients, different dish.
This happens because not all neighboring notes in the scale are the same
distance from each other. Some are only a semitone apart, others are a
whole
tone (two semitones) apart. As a result, if you start on any scale degree
and
walk up or down a given number of steps, you'll get different results
depending
on where you start.
In the C major scale, most neighboring notes are a whole tone (two
semitones)
apart. However, E and F are only one semitone apart. The same is true for
B and
C.
So let's say you start on C, call that 1, and count up 1 - 2 - 3 to E
(C-D-E).
You'd be counting up a total distance of four semitones (two semitones
from C to
D, and two more from D to E).
When you count three notes up the letter names of the scale, the
*interval* -
the distance between those letter names - is called a *third*.
Now try the same thing starting on D. Count up 1-2-3 and you go D - E - F.
So
from D up to F is also a third. But now let's count the semitones: D to E
is two
semitones, but E to F is only one semitone. So the third from D to F is
one
semitone smaller than the third from C up to E.
So you have two different thirds, a larger, or *major third* that spans
four
semitones, and a smaller, or *minor third* that spans three semitones.
When you talk about major chords and minor chords, or major and minor
scales or
keys, it's the size of the third in the scale that determines whether it's
major
or minor.
However, all intervals come in different sizes, or *qualities*. Because of
the
irregular pattern of whole tones and semitones among the letter names of
the
scale, any time you center a scale around a different note, you get a
different
set of interval qualities relative to that note. Those different intervals
give
the scale a different flavor, with each one having its own unique
character.
I'm leaving out a huge amount of detail to get the essential point of
modes
across.
Winslow
Winslow Yerxa
President, SPAH, the Society for the Preservation and Advancement of the
Harmonica
Producer, the Harmonica Collective
Author, Harmonica For Dummies, ISBN 978-0-470-33729-5
Harmonica Basics For Dummies, ASIN B005KIYPFS
Blues Harmonica For Dummies, ISBN 978-1-1182-5269-7
Resident Expert, bluesharmonica.com
Instructor, Jazzschool Community Music School