The seven-step modes of folk music are varieties of major and minor moods. They are able to give any piece of music a unique sound flavor.
Frets in folk music
Fret is a system of relationships between sounds. When a chord sounds for a long time, you want to dilute it so that the music plays more interestingly. In this case, frets come to the rescue. They can also serve as an excellent basis for chord building and accompaniment. With their help, truly unique modulations and transitions are created.
Some believe that strictly defined modes are inherent in the music of each nationality. In fact, the sound series received such an encoding already when the theory of music began to develop, and artificial tones were created in Europe. Musical works of different peoples, indeed, differ from each other, but in each culture several sound series can be used at once.
There are 7 modes in folk music. The frets belong to the first group of the major mood:
- Ionian;
- Lydian;
- mixolydian.
The second group of the minor mood includes the frets:
- Phrygian;
- Dorian;
- Aeolian;
- Locrian.
For people without musical education, these names are poorly familiar. But the modes "major" (Ionian) and "minor" (Aeolian) are quite popular and everyone knows.
Major mode - cheerful, optimistic. Minor, on the contrary, is considered sad and depressing. Choosing the right combination, you can give a piece of music a certain shade, mood, convey your own feelings through the music to listeners. If the music was built only on a major and minor combination in the classical versions of their construction, this kind of art would be boring and monotonous. The variety of modes deprives musical works, including folk, of this disadvantage.
Ionian mode
The Ionian scale is a natural major scale. It can be built from any note. In folk music, this combination is considered one of the most popular and demanded, especially when it comes to comic and funny pieces. A universal formula by which the construction of a scale is possible: tone-tone-semitone-tone-tone-semitone. For example, if you start to build a scale on it from the note "C" you will get "C major".
Aeolian mode
The Aeolian mode also has its own formula: tone-semitone-tone-tone-semitone-tone-tone. With it, you can get a minor scale from any note. Such scales are used to create slow musical compositions, ballads.
Dorian mode
The Dorian style has been known since antiquity and the Middle Ages. The name comes from the eponymous name of the Greek tribes. The Dorian mode is similar to the minor one, but its main difference is that the sixth degree is elevated. It can be built using the formula: tone-semitone-tone-tone-tone-semitone-tone.
A mixture of Dorian and blues is very popular nowadays. Dorian blues accompaniment is a very interesting direction in music. The Dorian mode is called agile and dexterous. It is used very often in folk music. Despite the minority, it gives a special depth to musical works. It can be heard in the music of the Celtic peoples.
Phrygian mode
Unlike the Aeolian, this mode has a lowered second degree. The formula for its construction is as follows: semitone-tone-tone-tone-semitone-tone-tone. This mode can be heard in fast folk music. Experts call him impetuous, strict, angry, prompting to fight. Such music is originally perceived by ear. There are many jumps, sharp drops in it.
Locrian mode
The Locrian mode belongs to the minor ones. The difference from the classic sound range is the lowering of the second and fifth steps. Its construction is possible from any note according to a simple formula: semitone-tone-tone-semitone-tone-tone-tone. In folk music, this combination of sounds is often used. Experts call him calm, sad. On certain notes, it sounds rather gloomy and even detached. The listeners get a feeling of some mystery.
Mixolydian mode
Mixolydian mode can be built according to the formula: tone-tone-semitone-tone-tone-semitone-tone. You can take the Ionian mode as a basis and lower the seventh degree in it. For people who make music professionally, this will not be difficult. For example, instead of "si" you need to take "b flat". The fret sound is very pleasant, fast, but at the same time changeable. His character is compared to the character of young and very hot-tempered people who find it difficult to determine their feelings.
Lydian mode
Lydian scale is major. Its distinguishing feature from the classical major combination of sounds is the increased fourth step. The construction formula is as follows: tone-tone-tone-semitone-tone-tone-semitone. Lydian row can be calm, but at a certain moment the sound seems very bright, explosive. Human hearing immediately responds to an increase in the fourth stage of the combination.
The Lydian row is found not only in folk, but also in modern, in rock music. Compositions that use Lydian modes, built on different notes, seem fabulous and have an original shade of sound.
There are other classifications, but they are more in-depth. Professional musicians divide the frets into several groups:
- authentic (based on the first and fifth sounds);
- plagal (based on the first and fourth sounds);
- hypolads (the first sound acts as a relative abutment).
Rare and common modes in folk music
In Russian, Bulgarian, Hungarian folk music, there are very original modes with extended seconds. They are called doubly harmonic. Such modes can be built in both major and minor scales.
In Russian folk music, you can hear artificial modes, which are reduced or increased. They characterize well unreal, fairy-tale characters.
If you analyze Russian folk works, you can hear that many of them are built on the Dorian scale. It is this unusual combination of sounds that gives a feeling of masculinity, greatness, strength, but at the same time a somewhat gloomy shade remains. The Phrygian series is also found in folk motifs.
Original music is popular among the peoples of the Eastern Mediterranean. It is difficult to attribute it to a major or minor row by ear, as it seems sad and cheerful at the same time. These works are based on the Lydian scale. It is on it that many songs of the Jewish peoples are built.
