September 20, 201015 yr Dorian. Definitely Dorian. The dorian mode/scale is one of those interesting little happenstances where the octave could theoretically divide symmetrically. If you look at the interval structure of Dorian, WhWWWhW, if you "could" divide that whole step in the center of the structure into halves, we'd have a symmetric, diatonic scale... sorta. So, I guess if we were to try to make a scale out of it, maybe it would look something like... D-E-F-G-G#-A-B-C-D, or WhWhhWhW or something, like some kind of twist on the octatonic/diminished scale (WhWhWhWh or hWhWhWhW). But I digress... Yeah, Stravinsky did that kind of thing in The Rite of Spring. You have to really look for it, though. :P I voted phrygian, but I probably should've gone with locrian. Between the modal jazz scene and pre-baroque period music I'm kind of worn out on dorian, and the natural major/minor modes are too extreme.
November 2, 201015 yr Well, if you stack 5ths, all you technically get is a set of pitches, and depending on how many fifths you stack, how you order them and where you start, you get very different results. By stacking seven fifths and reordering them to a scale (or chord of thirds), you can get any of the 7 diatonic modes, depending on which tone you start with. Sure you can say that if you start with the lowest of the seven, you get lydian, but it seems a bit sought-after for me to claim any "naturality" in this, since the principle of reordering the pitches in the first place is a very conscious and artificially constructive idea, whithout which no scale would result. I find the second explanation more logical, to make a direct comparisation with the first occurence of something "scale-like" in the harmonic series - i.e. the part between the 8th and 16th partial. Lydian and mixolydian get closer to that than the other modes, and even more so a mixture of both (lydian b7). Bartok used that one quite a bit. The closest solution in 12-tone equal temperament would be an octatonic scale such as C-D-E-F#-G-Ab-Bb-B, which is almost identical with Messiaen's third mode (which just would have an additional Eb in this example). The funny thing is that I've always been partial to Messiaen's third mode, but hadn't realized this connection until right now. Just saying, neither lydian, nor lydian B7 have a neutral sixth, or a semi-augmented fourth, like the scale from the 8th-16th harmonic. If you actually listen to the aforementioned scale, not just look at sheet music that maps the harmonic series to the closest 12-tet interval, you can hear that is very diffrent than lydian.
November 2, 201015 yr These ways of constructing or analyzing scales does not make one or another scale more or less "natural", since the mere act of construction in a certain way is artifical. Also, when speaking of partials and their meaning, you should have in mind that the farther the partial in the series, the less significant it is psychoacoustically. Also, scales are not only about harmonic, but also about melodic relationships. So another explanation would be "in favor" of the Ionian mode, since the Ionian tritone resolves to the tonic, while the fourth and seventh degrees at the same time have tendencies to the third and first (eight), respectively. And so on and so forth...
February 24, 201115 yr Gotta be a tie between Dorian and Phrygian. I love dorian because of its frequent use in old Celtic tunes, and it's like an aeolian that's just not so blue. Phryigian is a lot of fun for harmonizing over minor or major melodies too, and practically I use it a lot more.
February 28, 201115 yr I have had an affair with several modes, the latest one being the lydian dominant. Lately I have used a variant of the lydian dominant (or something completily else) which I can't fully explain. It is in a way a C-phrygian with G as the tonal center, and all the chords substituted with major chords (C-Db-Eb-F-G-A-Bb) wich gives sport of a spacey wholetone-scale-feel to it. Previously, I wrote allmost exclusivly in dorian mode, and I still sneak in that juicy I-IV progression whenever i have the chance.
February 28, 201115 yr Like you, I like several. I like the lydian sound of the chord CFAB, but I am rather keen on phrygian and dorian as well. So I am not going to answer the question what my favorite is :P
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