In traditional discourse on Western music the word "mode" has been used to denote the melodic bases of Ancient Greek, Ecclesiastical, and particular types of folk music.
Species of Scale
Mode's most common usage is in association with a species of scale (i.e. c, to c', =Ionian mode; d, to d', =Dorian mode, etc.). A musicologist may say that a given song is in Mixolydian mode on G, which means that taking this note as the ground note the song can be performed on the white keys of the piano. This explanation would lead us to believe that a mode is simply another type of scale (an arrangement of tones and semitones).
Nettl points out that "mode is the way in which the tones of a scale are used in a composition" (Nettl 1964:146). He adds that certain notes may be more important than others, and a particular ordering of notes is found. Powers notes that this important distinction is a recent development in musicology.
European modal theory emphasised the classificatory and scalar aspects of mode, though one can observe or infer important melodic and motivic features that may be called `modal' in some phases of medieval and Renaissance theory and practice. But in the 20th century the use of the term `mode' has broadened to the extent that melodic type and motivic features are now given equal weight with scale type in musicological parlance (Powers 1980:377).
Modes and Motives
In this context, Reese has written that "A mode...is composed of a number of motives (i.e. short music figures or groups of tones) within a certain scale" (Powers 1980:377). Both motives and modes are theoretical concepts which postdate the melodies, tunes or airs which they are used to explain and since the latter represent the creation and expression of human beings it follows that there is a link between the former and particular "ethnic" groups and geographical regions.
This idea is evident in Winnington-Ingram's definition of mode;
"Mode may be defined as the epitome of stylized song, of song stylized in a particular district or people or occupation; and it draws its character partly from associations contracted in its native home, reinforced perhaps by the sanctions of mythology" (Powers 1980:377).
In a similar vein, Fox Strangways has observed that the establishment of a mode in a geographic region makes it the scale of that area (Fox Strangways 1914:136).
The peoples of differing parts of the world select and use pitches based on cultural and artistic traditions. As such, mode can be used to refer to this phenomena which is "the way" in which this musical material is used.
Bibliography
Fox Strangways, A.H. 1914 The Music of Hindostan. London: Oxford University press
Nettl, B. 1964 Theory and Method in Ethnomusicology. New York: Schrimer Books
Powers, H. 1980 "Mode" in New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. Vol.12, ed S. Sadie. London: Macmillan Press
