Timeline for Why are songs in Mixolydian mode notated in major mode?
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
11 events
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| Jul 16, 2018 at 22:31 | comment | added | jdjazz | @leftaroundabout, I see your point, but I don't think it's 100% clear cut. I7-♭Ⅶ7 progressions often emphasize the flatted seventh in the chord voicing, which doesn't happen in this song. Additionally, songs do exist with IMaj7-♭ⅦMaj7 progressions. This song is more ambiguous than either case because the 7th is omitted from the voicing and doesn't appear in the melody. On this song, playing a major 7th over the G chord (e.g., when soloing) could definitely sound good if resolved appropriately. By contrast, playing the major 7th over the C in Killer Joe would stand out like a sore thumb. | |
| Jul 16, 2018 at 22:27 | comment | added | jdjazz | @JohnDoe, I agree completely about the bridge. There might be indicators of a key change (lead in chords, etc.), or the new key might just sound different. I think neither is the case with this particular song; the bridge simply sounds like the relative minor of the chorus. I'll edit this into the answer. | |
| Jul 16, 2018 at 19:39 | comment | added | leftaroundabout | Re my comment above: I don't know how that “dorian” slipped in there... — @armani, yeah, but normally when a piece changes key / mode that'll have no influence on what signature is used in the beginning. Either they'll change signature (when it's a significant modulation, like going to the parallel minor) or just stick to the signature of the beginning (in the development section of classical pieces, you often change so quickly through tonalities that it would be impractical to change signature every time, also you tend to move around the circle of fifths which means not that many accidentals. | |
| Jul 16, 2018 at 17:52 | vote | accept | CommunityBot | moved from User.Id=35708 by developer User.Id=86673 | |
| Jul 16, 2018 at 17:52 | vote | accept | CommunityBot | moved from User.Id=35708 by developer User.Id=86673 | |
| Jul 16, 2018 at 17:52 | |||||
| Jul 16, 2018 at 17:52 | comment | added | user35708 | @leftaroundabout I think this sounds sensible to me, the writer chose ionian in this case. I hadn't realised that it was ionian further on. That explains it! | |
| Jul 16, 2018 at 15:37 | comment | added | John Doe | Additionally, the bridge is...the bridge. It's fairly common to modulate to a different key in the bridge, which could explain the difference. | |
| Jul 16, 2018 at 14:44 | comment | added | leftaroundabout | ...I'd say the verse is clearly in mixolydian, whereas the bridge is ionian. | |
| Jul 16, 2018 at 14:41 | comment | added | leftaroundabout | I don't think this is a good way of deciding between mixolydian and ionian. Blues uses minor sevenths almost exclusively, yet it's not really mixolydian. And many tunes don't use any chords with a ⅶ note in them at all (most typically, only switching between Ⅰ and Ⅳ), yet can be clearly classified as either ionian or dorian. Because these are mostly a melodic affair, and if the melody keeps going between Ⅰ and ♭Ⅶ then it's clearly mixolydian. | |
| Jul 16, 2018 at 14:08 | comment | added | Dekkadeci | This is why I generally assign key signatures based on the tonic and whether the music sounds more major or minor, not the mode it sounds the most similar to. I find that music, just like this example song, doesn't tend to strictly adhere to modes. | |
| Jul 16, 2018 at 12:51 | history | answered | jdjazz | CC BY-SA 4.0 |