Andihemitonic Heptatonic Modality

Yeah, I made that up.

It seems like a good number of famous composers have invented their own
systems of music in order to come up with a their personal musical
language. When you think Messiaen, you think modes of limited
transposition. choenberg, !"#tone serialism. $eorge %ussell, &ydian
'hromatic 'oncept. (rnette 'oleman, )armelodics. When I compose,
however, it*s always a mishmash of ideas thrown together in whatever way I
feel like at the time. It*s great, I wouldn*t do it any other way, but I always
wondered what it would be like if it was all legitimi+ed by some overarching
theory, rather than my aesthetic taste and a ,umble of vaguely related ideas.
With all that in mind, I came up with the idea of andihemitonic heptatonic
modality. It*s a complicated term to describe something very vague in
conception, so I*m sure music theorists will love it. It also sounds impressive,
when pronounced correctly and with a straight face.
-he basic idea behind it is simple enough, I suppose. (ne of the reasons why
harmony works so well with the ma,or scale and its modes is because there
are no consecutive half steps. In traditional theoretical thinking, voicings with
consecutive half steps form tone clusters, where the function of each
individual note is obscured and instead they blur together to form a
dissonant harmony. With the ma,or scale and its modes, you never have to
worry about that sort of thing happening if you*re staying strictly within the
scale. .lthough, it*s a lot of fun to play the piano with your forearm.
-his got me thinking, how many other /#note scales are there that don*t
have consecutive half#steps0 -urns out, there are 1 2plus all of their modes,
so really, "34. -hey can be neatly categori+ed by describing their upper and
lower tetrachords. Ma,or and Minor for the lower tetrachord and Melodic and
)armonic for the upper. 'heck it out.
Melodic Major 2Ma,or scale4 5 ! " 6 1 7 8 /
Melodic Minor 5 ! " b6 1 7 8 /
Harmonic Major 5 ! " 6 1 7 b8 /
Harmonic Minor 5 ! " b6 1 7 b8 /
9am, that*s everything. It*s convenient, too, because, with the e:ception of
the harmonic ma,or, these scales and their modes are all pretty much
standard for contemporary ,a++ improvisation. You end up with 1, /#note
scales and "3 independent modes.
(;, cool, so that*s everything, so what0 $ood <uestion. I*m still trying to
figure out e:actly how to turn this vague idea of universal modes into a
method of composition, but what I have so far comes from the theory and
contemporary treatment of the $reek modes. -he standard 9erklee
treatment of the modes in contemporary music involves constructing tertian
chords in all of the modes and then classifying them based upon their
characteristic pitch. =very mode is assigned a chracteristic pitch, and the
strength of a chord progression is based upon whether or not a particular
chord contains that characteristic pitch. My thought was that if I can apply
the same sorts of ideas to all "3 modes versus ,ust the $reek /, I can get a
far more complete picture of modal harmony and composition.
o that*s where I am right now. I*ll be updating this blog with much more
detailed looks at these modes and how I*ve used them over the ne:t month.
>ntil then?
#.dam
.lso?if anybody out there is feeling particularly gotcha, there are
actually sixof these kinds of scales, but two of them are simply subsets of
the octatonic scale. -hese diminished heptatonics sound and behave so
similar to the 3#tone diminished scale that I haven*t bothered investigating
them further as their own scales. I might as well ,ust have that 3th note and
write with the full diminished scale.
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Andihemitonic Heptatonic Modality
Characteristic Pitches
If you think I ,ust made those words up, you*re absolutely right. -o get up to
speed on what the hell I*m talking about, check out my super#fun intro to
.M). If you*re too la+y to go back and read, basically, I*ve come up rough list
of all /#note scales with no consecutive half#steps in some sort of odd
attempt at a personal compositional theory. -here are only 1 of them @ the
Ma,or, the Melodic Minor, the )armonic Minor and the )armonic Ma,or, which
amount to "3 useable modes.
Aun stuff.
-he ne:t step from here is to categori+e and label all of those "3 modes. &ike
I said before, 9erklee#theory <uantifies each of the seven ma,or modes with
a characteristic pitch 2'B4. -hese 'Bs, in theory anyway, serve to give each
individual mode it*s modal flavor. )ere is a nifty chart with all of the ma,or
modes defined with their characteristic pitch 2click for a larger version4.
Ma,or Modes wC 'haracteristic Bitches
-he <uestion is, why e:actly are the 'Bs defined this way0 Most of us can
come to a consensus that yes, the D1 is the defining note of &ydian, and the
b" is the defining note of Bhrygian, but why is that0 'ommon practice and
tradition don*t help us much when we*re trying to look at modes besides
these /.
Well, for starters, every 'B is on the diatonic tritone of the mode. -he tritone
is such a powerful interval in tonal music, and it remains a powerful interval
when you*re dealing with the modes. We can see that this tritonal dissonance
is important to hearing the color of each individual mode. Bicking
e:actly which note on the tritone to call the 'B is a much trickier prospect,
but basically, whichever note of the tritone forms a weaker interval
root 2based on )indemiths theory of interval roots4 with the tonic of the
mode is the 'B. Eon*t worry, I barely understand it either, but that*s the
cleanest e:planation I can come up with that doesn*t reference common
practice.
.nyway, now we know were to begin when we*re looking at the modes of the
Melodic Minor, )armonic Minor and )armonic Ma,or @ find the diatonic tritone
and come up with the 'B. -he problem with this is that the ma,or scale is the
only one of these scales to have a single diatonic tritone. -he other three
have two tritones, which means that instead of one 'B, we have to deal
with two of them. It becomes hard to definitively say which of the two
pitches is truly characteristic of the mode, so if a chord progression, chord
voicing or melody is supposed to reflect these modes, it would have to have
9(-) of the characteristic pitches. In a couple of e:treme cases 2Mode FII of
)armonic Minor, and Mode FI of )armonic Ma,or4 the notes on the diatonic
tritone really aren*t all too characteristic of the mode 2from an aesthetic
standpoint4, so I*ve classified other pitches as being characteristic. ince all
of this is supposed to be a personal compositional approach, these
discrepancies don*t bother me too much.
o here are they are. Gotice that no two modes share a pair of 'Bs @
sometimes I violate the rule about interval roots so that all modes have
uni<ue 'B pairs. .lso notice how I named most of the modes @ it*s ,ust a
$reek mode with an altered tone. ometimes these modes are more widely
known as something else, so I*ve parenthesi+ed other possible names for
each mode. Where I*ve chosen a 'B that isn*t on a diatonic tritone, I
parenthesi+e the correct 'B. 'lick on the images for bigger versions.
Melodic Minor Modes with 'haracteristic Bitches
)armonic Minor Modes with 'haracteristic Bitches
)armonic Ma,or Modes with 'haracteristic Bitches
.wesomeH )owever, I*m pretty sure some of you who have made it this far
2congratulations by the way4 are asking uh, so what0 We have all the
theoretical stuff lined up, but the cool stuff comes in actually applying it to
music. My ne:t couple blogs will be getting into that detail a lot more with
studying implications for counterpoint, modal voicings, and other cra+y stuff,
so stay tuneH
.wesome.
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Andihemitonic Heptatonic Modality
Concepts and Construction of Modal Voicings
If that sounds like the most pretentious bullshIt you*ve ever heard, you*re
probably right. If you have any particular desire to be brought up to speed on
the development J application of this nifty new compositional theory, check
out my intro to .M) and then my post dealing with characteristic pitches. If
you have no desire, I don*t blame you, here*s a video of a cat playing I spy.
It*s pretty hilarious, be watch some of the guy*s other videos also.
.nyways, the ne:t step from where we are right now is to start to figure out
what the hell to do with all of this categori+ation of modes. Its one thing to
slap labels on scales, but another to put them to work. We*ll first look at what
I call modal voicings.
-he 2infamous4 practice of teaching chordCscale theory as a method of
improvisation has lead to a generation of young ,a++ improvisers e<uating
specific chord symbols with specific scales . Aor e:ample, '/2D!!4 means
lydian b/, and in some respects, vice versa. Modal voicings take this sort of
thing to a more e:treme conclusion. If scales e<ual chord symbols and vice
versa, why bother having chord symbols in the first place0 'hord symbols
force a tertian understanding of harmony, and that sort of thing is sooo
passK. %ather, the mode itself I the harmony, and no distinction is drawn
between them. -he harmony and voicings aren*t built by stacking thirds or
fourths or anything like that, but rather by simply adding and subtracting
tones from the mode and arranging them based upon their desired intervallic
dissonance.
.t the core of all of this is the characteristic pitch. .ll modal voicings, at least
how I*m defining them, must contain the root and the 'B of the mode,
otherwise the core intervallic flavor that defines the mode won*t be there.
It*s like the third for triadic chords. ince the 'B is often a pitch that is either
not in the tradition tertian chord 2the 1 for the Ionian mode4, or otherwise
way up there in the tertian heirarchy 2the !6 for the Eorian mode4, these
sorts of vertical structures normally sound somewhat foreign and mildly
dissonant. .lmost always, if they ).E to be represented by a chord symbol,
it would be some sort of hybrid notation 2Ama,/sus"C.b, for e:ample4. I*ve
heard the effect of these sorts of voicings called static dissonance, and
that*s an idea I really latched on to. -hey*re dissonant, but don*t point
anywhere in particular, and are cool ,ust chilling out by themselves for a
while. $roovey.
Gow, in order for static dissonance to work, the voicing itself should follow all
of the standard voicing criteria that you first learn when arranging. &ogical
spacing of the voices, eschewing lower interval limits, avoiding a minor "nd
between the top two voices, and especially avoiding the interval of the minor
ninth. If scale degree b" is the 'B of a mode 2and therefore forms a minor L
dissonance wC the root4, avoid placing it in the lead voice to soften that
dissonance. 9eyond that, there aren*t really any limits on which notes to
place where that aesthetical taste can*t give you. -he arranging concept of
chord sound is irrelevant, and so whatever intervallic combinations work
with the 'B are fair game. I*ve found that ma,or /th intervals between a 'B
and another note work beautifully in giving that static dissonant effect, and
usually try to sneak in a ma,or /th dissonance in whatever modal voicing I
use.
)ere are some sample modal voicings I came up with for the greek 2ma,or4
modes. -hey often can be interpreted some way or another into fit into a
chord symbol, but sometimes they can*t. 'lick for a larger version.
o where to from here0 $reek modes are one thing, but in order to get some
really cool sounds we need to delve into the other three scale systems. ince
there are in fact two 'Bs for each of the modes of the Melodic Minor,
)armonic Minor and )armonic Ma,or, modal voicings for these modes should
ideally contain both 'Bs. -hey might work with ,ust one 'B, but they won*t
represent the mode as fully. In this way, I think of the two 'B*s as the 6rd
and /th guidetones of more conventional seventh chords @ the chord might
be intervallically sound with one and not the other, but there isn*t enough
chord sound to define the chord. Eig0
=ven still, the fact that a modal voicing contains both 'B*s of a particular
mode doesn*t mean that it*s going to be uni<ue to that mode. In fact, the
minimum number of notes from a particular .) mode re<uired in a voicing to
make !MMN it*s from that specific mode and not another one is six. Gow, si:#
note voicings are fairly dense and unwieldy, so creating a te:ture of wholly
uni<ue modal voicings isn*t too feasible. -his isn*t too big of a problem @
seventh chords rarely have their full e:tensions one them anyway, and very
often omit their fifth. Instead, the goal is to imply one mode over another,
and if not that, at least use the mode*s intervallic <ualities to create an
ambiguous, cool#sounding voicing.
)ere are a few sample voicings from the other three scale systems. (ne neat
thing about them is if you listen carefully, all the modes of a particular scale
system tend to sound like the parent scale. -here*s an ear training e:ercise
where the student is supposed to figure out whether or not a segundal
voicing 2voicing built ,ust from stacked seconds4 comes from the ma,or,
melodic minor or harmonic minor scale. It doesn*t matter what the root of
the voicing is @ the scale itself shines through. =ven the more e:treme ones
like the super lydian end up giving the impression of )armonic Ma,or, or
whatever the parent scale is.
o to recap, Modal Foicings?.
Must contain root and 'B2s4 to reflect the character of the mode
(bey guidelines for intervallic dissonance within vertical structures
ound cool with ma,or / dissonances
.re totally !MMN uni<ue to a mode if there are si: voices
)opefully you see where I*m eventually going with all of this stuff.
'ategori+ing all the usable /#note modes is invaluable to this modal voicings
concept, and gives a pretty complete picture of the harmonic pallate we
have to work with. In the ne:t couple blogs, I*ll be going into more specifics
and even 2gaspH4 posting real pieces of music. I*m still trying to attach a
fancy title to what I*m going to talk about ne:t, though. $radational
Modulation is a possibility, although I*m always looking for even better ways
to obfuscate concepts with ,argon, so it might change.