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Contact me by email: dgall.music@gmail.com
Modal Composition
I have been concerning myself lately with how I write my music, with self-analysis, and the exploration of possibilities in
the way I write my music. I have been vaguely aware for some time now that my music is modal in character, and that
the characteristic sound that appears almost consistently in my music comes from the particularities of my chosen
modes. And so I set out to analyze my music, and to identify my modes. When I write my ear is my guide, but there
are almost immediately hints at a consistent pattern, sounds that I like and choose again and again. The most
obvious of which being three consecutive pitches separated by half steps, and the use of the minor 3rd as step-wise
motion. My modes are like scales, only the distance between each note in the scale consist of half steps, whole steps,
and minor 3rds. But when I set out to identify exactly the nature of my chosen modes, I found that I would write in the
same mode over and over again, just transposed in various ways. There was a dominant mode with a specific
intervalic formula in my music already, with variations on the mode identifiable in their relationship to the dominant
modal pattern.
I write my music in a seven note mode, that can be built from any root pitch with the following interval formula: whole
step, half step, half step, minor 3rd, half step, half step, minor 3rd. Based on A, the mode is: A, B, C, D-flat, E, F,
G-flat. This mode to itself I refer to as the simple mode, as opposed to the expanded mode which involves combined
simple modes with specific relationships to each other. The simple mode can be further broken down and better
understood as consisting of three elements, and as having a tretrachordal structure. The mode can be seen as
centering around a defined root, and consisting of a repeated interval pattern of half step, half step, minor 3rd,
creating two tetrachords that are intervalically identical, but distinguished from one another in their relationship to the
root. The 1st tetrachord begins a whole step above the root, the minor 3rd of the 1st tetrachord ends in the first pitch
of the 2nd tetrachord, and the 2nd tetrachord ends in the root. In A: A (root), B, C, D-flat, E (1st tetrachord), E, F,
G-flat, A (2nd tetrachord). The intervalic relationship of the two tetrachords to the root is what defines the root.
There are of course 12 transpositions of the simple mode, and the first expanded mode comes from common
tetrachords between modes that are a perfect 5th apart from one another. These I refer to as perfect 5th
combinations, substitutions, or modulations, whatever the case may be. In any given mode, the pitches that make up
the 1st tetrachord become the pitches that make up the 2nd tetrachord in a mode rooted a perfect 5th above. For
example, in A, the 1st tetrachord contains: B, C, D-flat, E, and in E, the 2nd tetrachord contains: B, C, D-flat, E. This
gives modes that are transposed a perfect 5th apart in either direction and overlapping commonality, that can be used
to combine, substitute, or modulate between them. A piece of music starting in the simple mode of A, for example, can
use the pitches of B, C, D-flat, E, common to both modes in A and E, to introduce other pitches from E into a piece
rooted in A: G, A-flat. All while maintaining the aural character that comes from the specific intervalic relationships that
make up the simple mode. The intervalic relationships are the same, even with these new pitches introduced, they
are just rooted in E instead of A, and when both modes are used in combination, as an expanded mode, it is better
understood not as a 9 note mode, but as two layers of 7 note modes.
When simple modes are combined in some way, I refer to it as an expanded mode. And this combination can take
many forms, from music in a simple mode that modulates across the modal series, to a simple mode that borrows or
substitutes pitches from closely related modes. But two modes can also be used in combination to create what I refer
to as the combined modal palette. This is when two closely related modes are used together as one 9 note mode (two
layers of 7 note modes), a combined mode that can also be expanded further along the modal series. But the
combined mode acts as one mode with two poles, in the greater context of the whole of the modal series, and tied
together through a series of relationships. The two poles borrow and substitute from each other, while each
expressing their own simple modal character still. Within the combined modal palette though, the two simple modes
may or may not take an equal role. It very well may be that even in this context the aural character of the simple mode
dominates the compositional sound. The combined modal palette is especially valid when realized using common root
combinations.
The interval formula that results in my simple mode can be realized not only ascending from a root, but descending
from a root as well, expanding the number of possible simple modes to 24. The 12 ascending realizations of the mode
I refer to as the primary position of the mode, A1, E1, B1, etc. And the 12 descending realizations of the mode I refer
to as the secondary position, A2, E2, B2, etc. And a further expanded mode can be realized by combining,
substituting, modulating between modes that are both ascending and descending from a common root. Similarly to
perfect 5th combinations, common root combinations result in 9 pitches (again, two layers of 7 note modes). The
three movements of my newest trio entitled, "and finally, I let go...," for flute, clarinet, and violin, represent my
composition in the combined modal palette using common root combinations, come out to the Synchromy concert on
September 25 to catch the premier.
A further expansion of the combined modal palette using common root combinations involves the 3 "missing pitches,"
and common tone relationships with other modes in the series. The whole step between the root and the 1st
tetrachord in the simple mode, when realized both ascending and descending from the root, result in denying us the
pitches that are a half step away from the root in either direction. This exclusion of these pitches defines the root.
The other "missing pitch" is directly a tritone away from the root, a reflection of the minor 3rd between tetrachords,
overlapping in either direction. There is a striking commonality between a mode that is ascending, and a mode that is
descending and pitched a half step below. These two modes, for example, A1 and A-flat2, or A2 and A-sharp1, have
6 out of 7 pitches in common, and they differ from one another only in the root. This commonality can be taken
advantage of using what I refer to as root substitution. When in the simple mode of A1, the root pitch of A can be
substituted with A-flat, placing you temporarily in the mode A-flat2. When in the combined modal palette using root
combinations, root substitution can be used to substitute for the root, a pitch that is either a half step above or below
the root.
Using the combined modal palette as a foundation for composition can serve to take the simple mode, and expand it
to the reach of the entire 24 mode series. Using root combinations, root substitutions, perfect 5th combinations, and
other relationships, ultimately result in a view of modal combination in which the entire modal series together, is one
huge palette, and the simple modal expression in any mode has the ability to reach across the series to all of these
modal regions, combining with other simple modes in various ways. The simple mode really exists in the context of the
expanded mode, the whole of the series, it is really all one related modal system.
The Modal Series: see pdf file
I have been concerning myself lately with how I write my music, with self-analysis, and the exploration of possibilities in
the way I write my music. I have been vaguely aware for some time now that my music is modal in character, and that
the characteristic sound that appears almost consistently in my music comes from the particularities of my chosen
modes. And so I set out to analyze my music, and to identify my modes. When I write my ear is my guide, but there
are almost immediately hints at a consistent pattern, sounds that I like and choose again and again. The most
obvious of which being three consecutive pitches separated by half steps, and the use of the minor 3rd as step-wise
motion. My modes are like scales, only the distance between each note in the scale consist of half steps, whole steps,
and minor 3rds. But when I set out to identify exactly the nature of my chosen modes, I found that I would write in the
same mode over and over again, just transposed in various ways. There was a dominant mode with a specific
intervalic formula in my music already, with variations on the mode identifiable in their relationship to the dominant
modal pattern.
I write my music in a seven note mode, that can be built from any root pitch with the following interval formula: whole
step, half step, half step, minor 3rd, half step, half step, minor 3rd. Based on A, the mode is: A, B, C, D-flat, E, F,
G-flat. This mode to itself I refer to as the simple mode, as opposed to the expanded mode which involves combined
simple modes with specific relationships to each other. The simple mode can be further broken down and better
understood as consisting of three elements, and as having a tretrachordal structure. The mode can be seen as
centering around a defined root, and consisting of a repeated interval pattern of half step, half step, minor 3rd,
creating two tetrachords that are intervalically identical, but distinguished from one another in their relationship to the
root. The 1st tetrachord begins a whole step above the root, the minor 3rd of the 1st tetrachord ends in the first pitch
of the 2nd tetrachord, and the 2nd tetrachord ends in the root. In A: A (root), B, C, D-flat, E (1st tetrachord), E, F,
G-flat, A (2nd tetrachord). The intervalic relationship of the two tetrachords to the root is what defines the root.
There are of course 12 transpositions of the simple mode, and the first expanded mode comes from common
tetrachords between modes that are a perfect 5th apart from one another. These I refer to as perfect 5th
combinations, substitutions, or modulations, whatever the case may be. In any given mode, the pitches that make up
the 1st tetrachord become the pitches that make up the 2nd tetrachord in a mode rooted a perfect 5th above. For
example, in A, the 1st tetrachord contains: B, C, D-flat, E, and in E, the 2nd tetrachord contains: B, C, D-flat, E. This
gives modes that are transposed a perfect 5th apart in either direction and overlapping commonality, that can be used
to combine, substitute, or modulate between them. A piece of music starting in the simple mode of A, for example, can
use the pitches of B, C, D-flat, E, common to both modes in A and E, to introduce other pitches from E into a piece
rooted in A: G, A-flat. All while maintaining the aural character that comes from the specific intervalic relationships that
make up the simple mode. The intervalic relationships are the same, even with these new pitches introduced, they
are just rooted in E instead of A, and when both modes are used in combination, as an expanded mode, it is better
understood not as a 9 note mode, but as two layers of 7 note modes.
When simple modes are combined in some way, I refer to it as an expanded mode. And this combination can take
many forms, from music in a simple mode that modulates across the modal series, to a simple mode that borrows or
substitutes pitches from closely related modes. But two modes can also be used in combination to create what I refer
to as the combined modal palette. This is when two closely related modes are used together as one 9 note mode (two
layers of 7 note modes), a combined mode that can also be expanded further along the modal series. But the
combined mode acts as one mode with two poles, in the greater context of the whole of the modal series, and tied
together through a series of relationships. The two poles borrow and substitute from each other, while each
expressing their own simple modal character still. Within the combined modal palette though, the two simple modes
may or may not take an equal role. It very well may be that even in this context the aural character of the simple mode
dominates the compositional sound. The combined modal palette is especially valid when realized using common root
combinations.
The interval formula that results in my simple mode can be realized not only ascending from a root, but descending
from a root as well, expanding the number of possible simple modes to 24. The 12 ascending realizations of the mode
I refer to as the primary position of the mode, A1, E1, B1, etc. And the 12 descending realizations of the mode I refer
to as the secondary position, A2, E2, B2, etc. And a further expanded mode can be realized by combining,
substituting, modulating between modes that are both ascending and descending from a common root. Similarly to
perfect 5th combinations, common root combinations result in 9 pitches (again, two layers of 7 note modes). The
three movements of my newest trio entitled, "and finally, I let go...," for flute, clarinet, and violin, represent my
composition in the combined modal palette using common root combinations, come out to the Synchromy concert on
September 25 to catch the premier.
A further expansion of the combined modal palette using common root combinations involves the 3 "missing pitches,"
and common tone relationships with other modes in the series. The whole step between the root and the 1st
tetrachord in the simple mode, when realized both ascending and descending from the root, result in denying us the
pitches that are a half step away from the root in either direction. This exclusion of these pitches defines the root.
The other "missing pitch" is directly a tritone away from the root, a reflection of the minor 3rd between tetrachords,
overlapping in either direction. There is a striking commonality between a mode that is ascending, and a mode that is
descending and pitched a half step below. These two modes, for example, A1 and A-flat2, or A2 and A-sharp1, have
6 out of 7 pitches in common, and they differ from one another only in the root. This commonality can be taken
advantage of using what I refer to as root substitution. When in the simple mode of A1, the root pitch of A can be
substituted with A-flat, placing you temporarily in the mode A-flat2. When in the combined modal palette using root
combinations, root substitution can be used to substitute for the root, a pitch that is either a half step above or below
the root.
Using the combined modal palette as a foundation for composition can serve to take the simple mode, and expand it
to the reach of the entire 24 mode series. Using root combinations, root substitutions, perfect 5th combinations, and
other relationships, ultimately result in a view of modal combination in which the entire modal series together, is one
huge palette, and the simple modal expression in any mode has the ability to reach across the series to all of these
modal regions, combining with other simple modes in various ways. The simple mode really exists in the context of the
expanded mode, the whole of the series, it is really all one related modal system.
The Modal Series: see pdf file