Hello everyone! My composition professor has emailed me that I have permission to post my notes from his class on Monday, so I will be posting them here. This article will be broken into three sections:

Introduction and Background of the Modes
Gregorian Chant Example Analysis
Counterpoint

Introduction and Background of the Modes

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So the first thing we discussed on Monday was the history of the modes. The modes are actually Greek in origin, and were originally labeled descending. This was because the Greeks used harps as their main instrument, and the pitches are in a descending order on a harp. At some point in history, the Greek modes were transcribed to be ascending instead of descending, and because of this, the labels that the Greeks gave the modes are inverted. This means that there is no correlation between a Church mode and the Greek mode from which it gets its name.

The Greek's names for the modes represented the feelings they associated with each mode. For instance, the Greek Dorian mode was named after the Dorians of Sparta. This was because they associated the mode with strength and power. To contrast, the Lydian mode was named after a civilization from Asia minor known as Lydia. This was because they associated the mode with weakness. Sometimes, the Greeks would have musicians play during battles. If they wanted to weaken their enemy, the musicians would stand in front of the Greek Army playing music in the Lydian mode towards the enemy. If they wanted to strengthen their own army, the musicians would stand behind the Greek army playing music in the Dorian mode. We can imagine which mode the musicians favored. . . This tradition actually continued throughout history all the way into World War II. On D-Day, Scottish bagpipers ran in in front of the Scottish and British troops playing the bag pipes. Because of their fierceness and their short kilts, the Scottish troops were nicknamed the Ladies from Hell by German soldiers.

Here is a list of the original 8 modes of the Western Church as well as their associated feelings. This list comes from wikipedia:

Here is a picture of the different modes in notation from wikipedia:

Traditionally, a mode only has a range of 8 notes. This means that all of the notes in that mode will be within the same octave. Any notes outside of that range is not considered to be part of the mode. Because of this you might notice that each mode has a normal version in which the range is outlined by the mode's final (tonal center), and a plagal version (labeled hypo) where the range is outlined by the note a fourth below the mode's final.

Gregorian Chant Analysis

On Monday, we discussed a chant in the dorian (and hypodorian) mode from Alme Pater. Despite the single melodic line, the chant is actually quite complex. First of all, the text it uses is:

Latin	English
Kyrie eleison	Lord have mercy
Christe eleison	Christ have mercy
Kyrie eleison	Lord have mercy

Here is the sheet music:

The form is complex, and broadly consists of a kyrie section (a) a christe section (b) and a kyrie section (a'). All of these sections are ternary (A-B-A) in nature as well. Because of this each element of the text is stated three times. The ternary nature of the pieces large scale and small scale forms is a representation of the trinity. Here is a YouTube video where the chant is sung.

It is very fascinating to think about how complex this chant is. We will be talking about it again in class today, as well as another one.

Counterpoint

Lastly, we were told to write some counterpoint for the next class using a cantus firmus he provided. We were to write several lines of first species counterpoint with the cantus firmus in the bottom voice, and several lines with the cantus firmus in the bottom voice. Here is what I wrote:

I did definitely break some of the rules of first species counterpoint, but so did the cantus firmus. We technically did not have to follow any rules since he hasn't taught them yet, but I had hoped to demonstrate a knowledge of the rules. However, the nature of the cantus firmus required me to take some liberties in my counterpoint.

Conclusion

Thanks for reading this! I have another composition class today which I hope to publish my notes from, and I also have more notes to publish from my analytical studies class. I hope you have enjoyed reading this, and I hope you will continue to read my notes if they interest you! Have an awesome day!