Sounds like a random question possibly, but I wrote a piece of music recently, and while it clearly needed Bbs, it also clearly didn't want to be in F major or D minor.

For a while I tried to fight with it, then just gave up - the uncertainty of key suited the music anyway! - but it wasn't till the middle of the night a few nights later that I realised it fitted the mode on G (so, a mixolydian on C, if memory serves...?)

So... part of me thinks it would be reasonable to describe it as modal, but I realised that I have no idea whether this would be an accepted description in theory terms. Instinct says yes, but I have not done that much work with modes and so I don't actually know for sure. I figured someone here probably would...

It sounds modal to me. I think the definition is something along the lines of that it doesn't have any extra accidentals added (although someone will, no doubt, come along with a better explanation). So, if the key signature is one flat and the tonic (not entirely sure if that's the right word in a modal context) is C, then it is C mixolydian, like you said.

I did have one accidental, but that was for affect not as part of the tonality (or modality) of the piece. Does that make a difference, do you think?

It's one of those things I didn't realise I didn't know, if you know what I mean!

Erm, are the Bs mainly flat or mainly natural? My guess would be that if they're mainly natural, it's prodominantly major (or ionian if we're being modal) and if they're mainly flat, it's better described as mixolydian.

All flat - the accidental was an Eb, for effect... make sense?

Oh, sorry I missed that! In that case it's either mixolydian or dorian depending on how many Ebs there are.

Just the one, so mixolydian I guess!

Cheers - this is more or less what I thought but it's good to know that someone else basically agrees... so I guess it probably is modal

FWIW, my definition of modal is the same as major/minor; if the tonic is D and the key sig has 2 sharps, it's D major; if the key sig has 1 sharp, it's D mix, and so on.

(when i say 'key sig', i mean the effective key of the piece; if it's written with one flat but all the Es have flat accidentals, it has two flats.)

Yeah, that's what I figured, just as a single F# wouldn't make C major into G major.

Thank you both - reassuring that I am not totally at sea

I've been thinking a bit more about it. The most important thing to me is the 'flattened' leading note (or subtonic or whatever it's supposed to be called ). Obviously that doesn't apply to ionian or lydian modes, but it helps you tell the difference between minor and aeolian and dorian etc.

aren't aeolian and minor basically the same thing? (at least if you're talking about natural minor...)

That's the point though I think, natural minor=aeolian is modal whereas normal minor (ie harmonic/melodic with varying accidentals so you get a proper leading note, no augmented seconds etc) isn't and is tonal.

Sorry if I'm being misleading. (or am downright wrong!)

ah... see, to me, the "normal minor" is the natural minor ;-) i always forget "minor" usually means something else in classical music.

I think that the mode is dictated by where the 2 semitones are in relation to the tonic. So in ionian mode the 2 semitones are between the 3rd and 4th degrees and the 7th and 8th, in dorian they are between the 2nd and 3rd and between the 6th and 7th etc.

Only just seen this...yes, your piece sounds definitely mixolydian, sarah.

Ta C