Remember the shortcuts to Modes from last week?

Here is a great ear training exercise to hearing the modes. It is so amazingly easy, it is wild.

Remember there are three major modes, three minor modes and one mode that is in a class of its own.

The three major ones:

ionian
lydian (with the raised 4)
mixolydian (with the flat 7)

The three minor ones:

aeolian
dorian (with a raised 6)
phrygian (with a flat 2)

The outlier:

locrian (technically minor as well, but because it has two exceptions from the norm, I create a class of its own for it) – it’s a minor with a flat 5 and a flat 2.

Now here is how you can quickly be hearing them by ear:

Step 1 – major or minor?

If Major:

Does it sound like you are used to? —> Ionian!
Does it sound not what you’d expect on the bottom (lower part of the scale, that is called a tetrachord)? —> Lydian! (it sounds bright!)
Does it sound not what you’d expect on top (upper tetrachord)? —> Mixolydian! (it’s got a touch of bluesy!)

If Minor:

Does it sound like you are used to? —> Aeolian!
Does it sound not what you’d expect on the bottom (lower part of the scale, that is called a tetrachord)? —> Phrygian (dramatic! Spanish))
Does it sound not what you’d expect on top (upper tetrachord)? —> Dorian! (a happy minor)

In order to identify locrian: listen for a sound that is not what you’d expect on the bottom and the top. Locrian sounds incomplete. If you feel compelled to sing one more note at the end of it -> that’s locrian, the seventh mode!