Dorian mode or Doric mode can refer to three very different but interrelated subjects: one of the

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic peri ...

''harmoniai'' (characteristic melodic behaviour, or the scale structure associated with it); one of the medieval

musical modes In music theory, the term mode or ''modus'' is used in a number of distinct senses, depending on context. Its most common use may be described as a type of musical scale coupled with a set of characteristic melodic and harmonic behaviors. It ...

; or—most commonly—one of the modern modal

diatonic scale In music theory, a diatonic scale is any heptatonic scale that includes five whole steps (whole tones) and two half steps (semitones) in each octave, in which the two half steps are separated from each other by either two or three whole steps, ...

s, corresponding to the piano keyboard's white notes from D to D, or any transposition of itself. :

Greek Dorian mode

The Dorian mode (properly ''harmonia'' or ''tonos'') is named after the

Dorian Greeks The Dorians (; el, Δωριεῖς, ''Dōrieîs'', singular , ''Dōrieús'') were one of the four major ethnic groups into which the Hellenes (or Greeks) of Classical Greece divided themselves (along with the Aeolians, Achaeans, and Ionians ...

. Applied to a whole octave, the Dorian

octave species In the musical system of ancient Greece, an octave species (εἶδος τοῦ διὰ πασῶν, or σχῆμα τοῦ διὰ πασῶν) is a specific sequence of intervals within an octave. In '' Elementa harmonica'', Aristoxenus classi ...

was built upon two

tetrachord In music theory, a tetrachord ( el, τετράχορδoν; lat, tetrachordum) is a series of four notes separated by three intervals. In traditional music theory, a tetrachord always spanned the interval of a perfect fourth, a 4:3 frequency pr ...

s (four-note segments) separated by a whole tone, running from the ''hypate meson'' to the ''nete diezeugmenon''. In the

enharmonic genus In the musical system of ancient Greece, genus (Greek: γένος 'genos'' pl. γένη 'genē'' Latin: ''genus'', pl. ''genera'' "type, kind") is a term used to describe certain classes of intonations of the two movable notes within a tetrach ...

, the intervals in each tetrachord are quarter tone–quarter tone–

major third In classical music, a third is a Interval (music), musical interval encompassing three staff positions (see Interval (music)#Number, Interval number for more details), and the major third () is a third spanning four semitones.Allen Forte, ...

. : In the

chromatic genus In the musical system of ancient Greece, genus (Greek: γένος 'genos'' pl. γένη 'genē'' Latin: ''genus'', pl. ''genera'' "type, kind") is a term used to describe certain classes of intonations of the two movable notes within a tetrach ...

, they are

semitone A semitone, also called a half step or a half tone, is the smallest musical interval commonly used in Western tonal music, and it is considered the most dissonant when sounded harmonically. It is defined as the interval between two adjacent no ...

–semitone–

minor third In music theory, a minor third is a musical interval that encompasses three half steps, or semitones. Staff notation represents the minor third as encompassing three staff positions (see: interval number). The minor third is one of two com ...

. : In the

diatonic genus In the musical system of ancient Greece, genus (Greek: γένος 'genos'' pl. γένη 'genē'' Latin: ''genus'', pl. ''genera'' "type, kind") is a term used to describe certain classes of intonations of the two movable notes within a tetrach ...

, they are semitone–tone–tone. : In the diatonic genus, the sequence over the octave is the same as that produced by playing all the white notes of a piano ascending from E to E, a sequence equivalent to the pattern of the modern Phrygian mode, although the temperament differs by small amounts. Placing the single tone at the bottom of the scale followed by two conjunct tetrachords (that is, the top note of the first tetrachord is also the bottom note of the second), produces the Hypodorian ("below Dorian") octave species: A , B C D E , (E) F G A. Placing the two tetrachords together and the single tone at the top of the scale produces the

Mixolydian Mixolydian mode may refer to one of three things: the name applied to one of the ancient Greek ''harmoniai'' or ''tonoi'', based on a particular octave species or scale; one of the medieval church modes; or a modern musical mode or diatonic scal ...

octave species, a note sequence equivalent to modern

Locrian mode The Locrian mode is the seventh mode of the major scale. It is either a musical mode or simply a diatonic scale. On the piano, it is the scale that starts with B and only uses the white keys from there. Its ascending form consists of the key note, ...

Medieval Dorian mode

The early Byzantine church developed a system of eight musical modes (the

octoechos Oktōēchos (here transcribed "Octoechos"; Greek: ;The feminine form exists as well, but means the book octoechos. from ὀκτώ "eight" and ἦχος "sound, mode" called echos; Slavonic: Осмогласие, ''Osmoglasie'' from о́с� ...

), which served as a model for medieval European chant theorists when they developed their own modal classification system starting in the 9th century. The success of the Western synthesis of this system with elements from the fourth book of ''De institutione musica'' of

Boethius Anicius Manlius Severinus Boethius, commonly known as Boethius (; Latin: ''Boetius''; 480 – 524 AD), was a Roman senator, consul, ''magister officiorum'', historian, and philosopher of the Early Middle Ages. He was a central figure in the tr ...

, created the false impression that the Byzantine octoechos was inherited directly from ancient Greece. Originally used to designate one of the traditional ''harmoniai'' of Greek theory (a term with various meanings, including the sense of an octave consisting of eight tones), the name was appropriated (along with six others) by the 2nd-century theorist

Ptolemy Claudius Ptolemy (; grc-gre, Πτολεμαῖος, ; la, Claudius Ptolemaeus; AD) was a mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist, who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were of importance ...

to designate his seven ''tonoi'', or transposition keys. Four centuries later, Boethius interpreted Ptolemy in Latin, still with the meaning of transposition keys, not scales. When chant theory was first being formulated in the 9th century, these seven names plus an eighth, Hypermixolydian (later changed to Hypomixolydian), were again re-appropriated in the anonymous treatise ''Alia Musica''. A commentary on that treatise, called the ''Nova expositio'', first gave it a new sense as one of a set of eight diatonic species of the octave, or scales. In medieval theory, the authentic Dorian mode could include the note B "by licence", in addition to B. The same scalar pattern, but starting a fourth or fifth below the mode final D, and extending a fifth above (or a sixth, terminating on B), was numbered as mode 2 in the medieval system. This was the

plagal mode A Gregorian mode (or church mode) is one of the eight systems of pitch organization used in Gregorian chant. History The name of Pope Gregory I was attached to the variety of chant that was to become the dominant variety in medieval western and ...

corresponding to the authentic Dorian, and was called the

Hypodorian mode The Hypodorian mode, a musical term literally meaning 'below Dorian', derives its name from a ''tonos'' or octave species of ancient Greece which, in its diatonic genus, is built from a tetrachord consisting (in rising direction) of a semitone ...

. In the untransposed form on D, in both the authentic and plagal forms the note C is often raised to C to form a

leading tone In music theory, a leading-tone (also called a subsemitone, and a leading-note in the UK) is a note or pitch which resolves or "leads" to a note one semitone higher or lower, being a lower and upper leading-tone, respectively. Typically, ''the ...

, and the variable sixth step is in general B in ascending lines and B in descent.

Modern Dorian mode

The modern Dorian mode (also called "Russian minor" by Balakirev,) by contrast, is a strictly

corresponding to the white keys of the piano from D to D (shown below) : or any transposition of its interval pattern, which has the ascending pattern of

whole step In Western music theory, a major second (sometimes also called whole tone or a whole step) is a second spanning two semitones (). A second is a musical interval encompassing two adjacent staff positions (see Interval number for more de ...

s and

half step A semitone, also called a half step or a half tone, is the smallest musical interval commonly used in Western tonal music, and it is considered the most dissonant when sounded harmonically. It is defined as the interval between two adjacent no ...

s as follows: : whole, half, whole, whole, whole, half, whole Thus, the Dorian mode is a

symmetric scale In music, a symmetric scale is a music scale which equally divides the octave. The concept and term appears to have been introduced by Joseph Schillinger and further developed by Nicolas Slonimsky as part of his famous ''Thesaurus of Scales and M ...

, since the pattern of whole and half steps is the same ascending or descending. The modern Dorian mode can also be thought of as a scale with a minor third and

seventh Seventh is the ordinal form of the number seven. Seventh may refer to: * Seventh Amendment to the United States Constitution * A fraction (mathematics), , equal to one of seven equal parts Film and television *"The Seventh", a second-season e ...

, a

major second In Western music theory, a major second (sometimes also called whole tone or a whole step) is a second spanning two semitones (). A second is a musical interval encompassing two adjacent staff positions (see Interval number for more de ...

and sixth, and a

perfect fourth A fourth is a musical interval encompassing four staff positions in the music notation of Western culture, and a perfect fourth () is the fourth spanning five semitones (half steps, or half tones). For example, the ascending interval from C to ...

and fifth, notated relative to the major scale as: : 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 It may be considered an "excerpt" of a

major scale The major scale (or Ionian mode) is one of the most commonly used musical scales, especially in Western music. It is one of the diatonic scales. Like many musical scales, it is made up of seven notes: the eighth duplicates the first at double ...

played from the pitch a

whole tone In Western music theory, a major second (sometimes also called whole tone or a whole step) is a second spanning two semitones (). A second is a musical interval encompassing two adjacent staff positions (see Interval number for more det ...

above the major scale's tonic , i.e., a major scale played from its second scale degree up to its second degree again. The resulting scale is, however, '' minor'' in quality, because, as the D becomes the new tonal centre, the F a minor third above the D becomes the new

mediant In music, the mediant (''Latin'': to be in the middle) is the third scale degree () of a diatonic scale, being the note halfway between the tonic and the dominant.Benward & Saker (2003), p.32. In the movable do solfège system, the mediant note i ...

, or third degree. Thus, when a triad is built upon the tonic, it is a

minor triad In music theory, a minor chord is a chord that has a root, a minor third, and a perfect fifth. When a chord comprises only these three notes, it is called a minor triad. For example, the minor triad built on C, called a C minor triad, has pitch ...

. The modern Dorian mode is equivalent to the

natural minor scale In music theory, the minor scale is three scale patterns – the natural minor scale (or Aeolian mode), the harmonic minor scale, and the melodic minor scale (ascending or descending) – rather than just two as with the major scale, which a ...

(or the

Aeolian mode The Aeolian mode is a musical mode or, in modern usage, a diatonic scale also called the natural minor scale. On the white piano keys, it is the scale that starts with A. Its ascending interval form consists of a ''key note, whole step, half ste ...

) but with a major sixth. The modern Dorian mode resembles the Greek Phrygian ''harmonia'' in the diatonic genus. It is also equivalent to the ascending

melodic minor scale In music theory, the minor scale is three scale patterns – the natural minor scale (or Aeolian mode), the harmonic minor scale, and the melodic minor scale (ascending or descending) – rather than just two as with the major scale, which als ...

with a

minor seventh In music theory, a minor seventh is one of two musical intervals that span seven staff positions. It is ''minor'' because it is the smaller of the two sevenths, spanning ten semitones. The major seventh spans eleven. For example, the interval fr ...

Notable compositions in Dorian mode

Traditional

* "

Drunken Sailor "Drunken Sailor", also known as "What Shall We Do with a/the Drunken Sailor?" or "Up She Rises", is a traditional sea shanty, listed as No. 322 in the Roud Folk Song Index. It was sung onboard sailing ships at least as early as the 1830s, and ...

"Ger Tillekens,
Marks of the Dorian Family
''Soundscapes'', no. 5 (November 2002) (Accessed 30 June 2009). * " Scarborough Fair" * " Noël nouvelet" (15th century French Christmas carol, often sung in English as "Sing We Now of Christmas")

Medieval

* "

Ave maris stella "Ave maris stella" (Latin for 'Hail, star of the sea') is a medieval Marian hymn, usually sung at Vespers. It was especially popular in the Middle Ages and has been used by many composers as the basis of other compositions. Background Authorship ...

", Gregorian chant (Marian hymn) * " Dies irae" (original setting in

Gregorian chant Gregorian chant is the central tradition of Western plainsong, plainchant, a form of monophony, monophonic, unaccompanied sacred song in Latin (and occasionally Greek (language), Greek) of the Roman Catholic Church. Gregorian chant developed ma ...

, sequence). * " Victimae paschali laudes", Gregorian chant (sequence) * "

Veni Sancte Spiritus "Veni Sancte Spiritus", sometimes called the Golden Sequence, is a sequence prescribed in the Roman Liturgy for the Masses of Pentecost and its octave, exclusive of the following Sunday. It is usually attributed to either the thirteenth-ce ...

", Gregorian chant (sequence) * ''

Alle Psallite Cum Luya ''Alle Psallite Cum Luya'' is an anonymous three-part Latin motet from the late 13th or early 14th century. It is recorded in the Montpellier Codex and is thought to have originated in France. The text is based on the word ''Alleluia Alleluia ...

'', an anonymous three-part Latin motet from the late 13th or early 14th century, recorded in the

Montpellier Codex The ''Montpellier Codex'' (''Montpellier, Bibliothèque Inter-Universitaire, Section Médecine, H196'') is an important source of 13th-century French polyphony. The ''Codex'' contains 336 polyphonic works probably composed c. 1250–1300, and wa ...

and thought to have originated in France. *''Chominciamento di gioia'', a 14th-century monophonic Italian

estampie The estampie (french: estampie, Occitan and ca, estampida, it, istanpitta) is a medieval dance and musical form which was a popular instrumental and vocal form in the 13th and 14th centuries. The name was also applied to poetry. Musical form T ...

in five sections ( British Library, Add MS 29987, No. 78). * ''Lamento di Tristano'', a 14th-century monophonic Italian dance in two parts, with the second section designated "La Rotta" ( British Library, Add MS 29987, No. 91). * ''La Manfredina'', a 14th-century monophonic Italian dance in two parts, with the second section designated "La Rotta della Manfredina" ( British Library, Add MS 29987, No. 92). * The Kyrie, Gloria, and Credo of '' Messe de Nostre Dame'' (Mass of Our Lady), a polyphonic mass composed before 1365 by French poet and composer Guillaume de Machaut (c. 1300–1377). *"Personent Hodie", Medieval Latin Christmas carol

Baroque

* "

Toccata and Fugue in D minor, BWV 538 The Toccata and Fugue in D minor, BWV 538, is an organ piece by Johann Sebastian Bach. Like the better-known BWV 565, BWV 538 also bears the title ''Toccata and Fugue in D Minor'', although it is often referred to by the nickname Dorian – a r ...

", an organ piece by

Johann Sebastian Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his orchestral music such as the '' Brandenburg Concertos''; instrumental compositions such as the Cello Suites; keyboard w ...

Romantic

* The "Et incarnatus est" in the Credo movement of

Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. Beethoven remains one of the most admired composers in the history of Western music; his works rank amongst the most performed of the classic ...

's ''

Missa Solemnis {{Audio, De-Missa solemnis.ogg, Missa solemnis is Latin for Solemn Mass, and is a genre of musical settings of the Mass Ordinary, which are festively scored and render the Latin text extensively, opposed to the more modest Missa brevis. In French ...

''. * The "Royal March of the Lions" from Camille Saint-Saëns's ''

Carnival of the Animals ''The Carnival of the Animals'' (''Le Carnaval des animaux'') is a humorous musical suite of fourteen movements, including " The Swan", by the French composer Camille Saint-Saëns. The work, about 25 minutes in duration, was written for privat ...

'' suite uses Dorian mode to evoke a "

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

style." * Large portions of the Symphony No. 6 by

Jean Sibelius Jean Sibelius ( ; ; born Johan Julius Christian Sibelius; 8 December 186520 September 1957) was a Finnish composer of the late Romantic and early-modern periods. He is widely regarded as his country's greatest composer, and his music is often ...

are in the Dorian mode. * In "La Brise" (from the ''Mélodies Persanes'', Op. 26), Saint-Saëns uses an E Dorian scale in the first half of the song.

Jazz

* " Maiden Voyage" by

Herbie Hancock Herbert Jeffrey Hancock (born April 12, 1940) is an American jazz pianist, keyboardist, bandleader, and composer. Hancock started his career with trumpeter Donald Byrd's group. He shortly thereafter joined the Miles Davis Quintet, where he help ...

Ronald Herder, ''1000 Keyboard Ideas'', (Katonah, New York: Ekay Music, 1990): 75. . – The composition takes an AABA form with chords in the "A" sections in D Dorian and the "B" section in E Dorian. * "

Milestones A milestone is a marker of distance along roads. Milestone may also refer to: Measurements *Milestone (project management), metaphorically, markers of reaching an identifiable stage in any task or the project *Software release life cycle state, s ...

" by

Miles Davis Miles Dewey Davis III (May 26, 1926September 28, 1991) was an American trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. He is among the most influential and acclaimed figures in the history of jazz and 20th-century music. Davis adopted a variety of musi ...

* "

Oye Como Va "Oye Cómo Va" is a 1962 cha-cha-chá by Tito Puente, originally released on ''El Rey Bravo'' (Tico Records). The song achieved worldwide popularity in 1970, when it was recorded by American rock group Santana for their album ''Abraxas''. This ...

" by

Tito Puente Ernest Anthony Puente Jr. (April 20, 1923 – June 1, 2000), commonly known as Tito Puente, was an American musician, songwriter, bandleader, and record producer of Puerto Rican descent. He is best known for dance-oriented mambo and Latin jazz ...

, popularized by

Santana Santana may refer to: Transportation * Volkswagen Santana, an automobile * Santana Cycles, manufacturer of tandem bicycles * Santana Motors, a former Spanish automobile manufacturer Boats * Santana 20, an American sailboat design by W. D. Sch ...

Wayne Chase, * "

So What So What may refer to: Law *Demurrer, colloquially called a "So what?" pleading Music Albums * ''So What'' (Anti-Nowhere League album) or the 1981 title song (see below), 2000 * '' So What?: Early Demos and Live Abuse'', by Anti-Nowhere League, ...

" by

– The composition takes an AABA form with the "A" sections in D Dorian and the "B" section in E Dorian.

Other

Kimigayo is the national anthem of Japan. The lyrics are from a ' poem written by an unnamed author in the Heian period (794–1185), and the current melody was chosen in 1880, replacing an unpopular melody composed by John William Fenton eleven years ...

, the national anthem of Japan * The Halo theme, taking significant inspiration from the aforementioned medieval Gregorian chants to effect an "ancient and mysterious" sound, is written in E dorian

References

External links

Dorian Mode – Analysis

Dorian Pentatonic Santana

Dorian Scale over the Circle of Fifths

Dorian Scale on guitar
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dorian Mode Modes (music)

Mode Mode ( la, modus meaning "manner, tune, measure, due measure, rhythm, melody") may refer to: Arts and entertainment * '' MO''D''E (magazine)'', a defunct U.S. women's fashion magazine * ''Mode'' magazine, a fictional fashion magazine which is ...

Greek Dorian mode

Medieval Dorian mode

Modern Dorian mode

Notable compositions in Dorian mode

Traditional

Medieval

Baroque

Romantic

Jazz

Popular

Other

See also

References

External links