Mixolydian mode
The
Mixolydian mode is a
musical mode or
diatonic scale. It may be considered as having the same order of
tones and
semitones as the
major scale except the fifth (
dominant)
note is taken as the
tonic or starting (beginning)
pitch of the
scale. It may also be considered a major scale with the
leading tone moved down by a
semitone.
The order of tones and semitones in a Mixolydian scale is TTSTTST (T = tone, S = semitone), while the major scale is TTSTTTS. The
key signature varies accordingly (it will be the same as that of the major key a fifth below).
Some examples:
*The G Mixolydian mode (Based on C
major - on a
piano it is all the white keys from one G to the next)
*The C Mixolydian mode (Based on F
major)
*The D Mixolydian mode (Based on G
major)
*The E Mixolydian mode (Based on A
major)
The idea of a Mixolydian mode comes from the music theory of
ancient Greece. However, what the ancient Greeks thought of as Mixolydian was very different from the modern interpretation of the mode.
In Greek theory, the Mixolydian is the
Hypolydian mode inverted: a descending scale of a
whole tone followed by two inverted
Lydian tetrachords (each being two whole tones followed by a
semitone descending). This is the equivalent of playing all the 'white notes' of a piano from B to B, or B C D (E) | E F G A | B. This happens to be theoretically the same as
Hyperdorian mode, but
Mixolydian seems to have been the preferred name. It also seems that this Mixolydian mode was little used by the ancient Greeks, and that it was deemed unfit for any kind of music.
The ancient Greek Mixolydian mode was invented by
Sappho, the 7th century B.C. poet and musician, according to
Anne Carson. In the introduction to her translation of Sappho's work, "If Not, Winter" (Alfred A. Knopf, 2002), Carson attributes this fact to Aristoxenos, who, in turn (Carson writes), was citing
Plutarch in his "On Music."
Mediaeval European music scholars understood the Greek system of modes through the
Latin works of
Boethius. However, his work was misinterpreted, and the name
Mixolydian came to be applied to one of the eight modes of mediaeval church music: the seventh mode. This mode does not run from B to B on white notes, as the Greek mode, but from G to G. This misinterpretation led to the current use of the term for the natural scale from G to G.
The seventh mode of western church music is an
authentic mode based on and encompassing the natural scale from G to G, with the
perfect fifth (the D in a G to G scale) as the dominant,
reciting note or
tenor.
Hand in hand with this mode goes the
plagal eighth mode, which was termed Hypomixolydian (or
under Mixolydian). This mode was based on the same scale, but used the
perfect fourth (the C in a G to G scale) as the reciting note, and had a melodic range from the perfect fourth below the tonic to the perfect fifth above it.
Notable songs in Mixolydian mode
* "
The Extremist" by
Joe Satriani. The chorus of the song are in Mixolydian mode.
* "
China Cat Sunflower" by The
Grateful Dead is in G mixolydian.
* The solo/jam segment of "Simple" and "Limb By Limb" by
Phish are in F mixolydian.
