Scale of the Day #4: The Phrygian Mode

This week we’re looking at one of the modes of the major scale, and as all the modes of the major scale have a long tradition of being named in western music theory we won’t need to get worried about what it ‘ought’ to be called – that flag was planted long ago.

While the Phrygian mode and last week’s scale both have the 2^nd and 7^th flattened they end up sounding nothing alike, and that’s because the Phrygian mode has another two notes flattened (the 3^rd and the 6^th), while last week’s scale had one note raised (the 4^th), with the result that three notes in the pattern are not shared.

The Phrygian mode is actually only one note different to the natural minor scale, but that flattened 2^nd has such an unexpected aspect to it that we tend to hear it as vastly different from the familiar natural minor pattern.

Here is the Phrygian mode starting on C:

Notice how in this permutation the pattern is symmetrical – white-black-black-white-white-black-black-white.  This makes it a joy to play in contrary motion, and is one of my contrary favourites, without a doubt.

There are two super-easy ways of finding this mode.  The first is to simply play all the white notes from E to E.  The other is to play F and C and then add all the black notes.  (I find this second method more fun).

I used this Phrygian on F in my Grade 1 standard piano piece Milli-Molli-Mandi-pede from the Faber/Trinity publication Creepy Crawlies (also available in Australia in the Hal Leonard publication Getting to Grade One New Mix). Here’s how that piece starts:

This ends up sounding reasonably ‘normal’ because the theme is so focussed on the F and the C, the same perfect 5^th you would expect to hear in a major, melodic minor or harmonic minor scale.  So the Phrygian marker note (the flattened 2^nd) doesn’t stand out so much as it is rapidly passed through as the melody moves between the dominant and tonic notes.

But try playing through the triads of the Phrygian mode.  The pattern goes like this:

i II III iv v° VI vii

minor-Major-Major-minor-diminished-Major-minor

Or, in notation, on C:

This combination creates a quite positive spin on the extremely minor pattern, as the minor key chord rises to two Major chords. And while in a major mode the chord a 3^rd above and a 3^rd below the key note are minor, in the Phrygian mode the situation is reversed, creating a background harmonic context of contentedness, even if the key chord is melancholic. On the other hand, the semitone distance between the tonic and the 2^nd note of the scale creates a high degree of tension (maybe it’s just heightened alertness, or then maybe it’s just a kind of unease) which works against the contented vibe major chords normally communicate.

I described the flattened 2nd as imparting a sensual atmosphere to last week’s scale, but here that impact is mitigated by the 3rd also being flattened – or maybe it’s just that the flattened 2nd sensuality feels more everyday without the augmented 2nd interval following.

How do you respond to the Phrygian mode?  Does it have any predictable emotional connotations to you?  And do you have any favourite pieces of music in this most interesting of tonic-minor modes?