Mixolydian mode may refer to one of three things: the name applied to one of the ancient Greek ''harmoniai'' or ''tonoi'', based on a particular octave species or scale; one of the medieval church modes; or a modern musical mode or

diatonic scale In music theory a diatonic scale is a heptatonic scale, heptatonic (seven-note) scale that includes five whole steps (whole tones) and two half steps (semitones) in each octave, in which the two half steps are separated from each other by eith ...

, related to the medieval mode. (The Hypomixolydian mode of medieval music, by contrast, has no modern counterpart.) The modern diatonic mode is the scale forming the basis of both the rising and falling forms of Harikambhoji in Carnatic music, the classical music form of southern India, or Khamaj in Hindustani music, the classical music form of northern India.

Greek Mixolydian

The idea of a Mixolydian mode comes from the music theory of

ancient Greece Ancient Greece () was a northeastern Mediterranean civilization, existing from the Greek Dark Ages of the 12th–9th centuries BC to the end of classical antiquity (), that comprised a loose collection of culturally and linguistically r ...

. The invention of the ancient Greek Mixolydian mode was attributed to Sappho, the poet and musician. However, what the ancient Greeks thought of as Mixolydian is very different from the modern interpretation of the mode. The prefix ''mixo''- (-) means "mixed", referring to its resemblance to the Lydian mode. In Greek theory, the Mixolydian ''tonos'' (the term "mode" is a later Latin term) employs a scale (or " octave species") corresponding to the Greek Hypolydian mode inverted. In its diatonic genus, this is a scale descending from ''paramese'' to ''hypate hypaton'': in the diatonic genus, a whole tone (''paramese'' to ''mese'') followed by two conjunct inverted Lydian tetrachords (each being two whole tones followed by a semitone descending). This diatonic genus of the scale is roughly the equivalent of playing all the white notes of a piano from B to B, which is also known as modern Locrian mode. In the chromatic and enharmonic genera, each tetrachord consists of a

minor third In music theory, a minor third is a interval (music), musical interval that encompasses three half steps, or semitones. Staff notation represents the minor third as encompassing three staff positions (see: interval (music)#Number, interval numb ...

plus two semitones, and a

major third In music theory, a third is a Interval (music), musical interval encompassing three staff positions (see Interval (music)#Number, Interval number for more details), and the major third () is a third spanning four Semitone, half steps or two ...

plus two quarter tones, respectively.

Medieval Mixolydian and Hypomixolydian

The term ''Mixolydian'' was originally used to designate one of the traditional ''harmoniai'' of Greek theory. It was appropriated later (along with six other names) by 2nd-century theorist

Ptolemy Claudius Ptolemy (; , ; ; – 160s/170s AD) was a Greco-Roman mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were important to later Byzantine science, Byzant ...

to designate his seven ''tonoi'' or transposition keys. Four centuries later,

Boethius Anicius Manlius Severinus Boethius, commonly known simply as Boethius (; Latin: ''Boetius''; 480–524 AD), was a Roman Roman Senate, senator, Roman consul, consul, ''magister officiorum'', polymath, historian, and philosopher of the Early Middl ...

interpreted Ptolemy in Latin, still with the meaning of transposition keys, not scales. When chant theory was first being formulated in the 9th century, these seven names plus an eighth, Hypermixolydian (later changed to Hypomixolydian), were again re-appropriated in the anonymous treatise ''Alia Musica''. A commentary on that treatise, called the ''Nova expositio'', first gave it a new sense as one of a set of eight diatonic species of the octave, or scales. The name ''Mixolydian'' came to be applied to one of the eight modes of medieval church music: the seventh mode. This mode does not run from B to B on white notes, as the Greek mode, but was defined in two ways: as the diatonic octave species from G up one octave to the G above, or as a mode whose final was G and whose ambitus runs from the F below the final to the G above, with possible extensions "by licence" up to A above and even down to E below, and in which the note D (the tenor of the corresponding seventh psalm tone) had an important melodic function. This medieval theoretical construction led to the modern use of the term for the natural scale from G to G. The seventh mode of western church music is an authentic mode based on and encompassing the natural scale from G to G, with the

perfect fifth In music theory, a perfect fifth is the Interval (music), musical interval corresponding to a pair of pitch (music), pitches with a frequency ratio of 3:2, or very nearly so. In classical music from Western culture, a fifth is the interval f ...

(the D in a G to G scale) as the dominant, reciting note or ''tenor''. The plagal eighth mode was termed ''Hypomixolydian'' (or "lower Mixolydian") and, like the Mixolydian, was defined in two ways: as the diatonic octave species from D to the D an octave higher, divided at the mode final, G (thus D–E–F–G + G–A–B–C–D); or as a mode with a final of G and an ambitus from C below the final to E above it, in which the note C (the tenor of the corresponding eighth psalm tone) had an important melodic function.

Modern Mixolydian

The modern Mixolydian scale is the fifth mode of the major scale ( Ionian mode). That is, it can be constructed by starting on the fifth scale degree (the dominant) of the major scale. Because of this, the Mixolydian mode is sometimes called the ''dominant scale''. The Mixolydian scale has the formula :1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 That is, the scale has the same series of tones and semitones as the major scale, but with a minor seventh. As a result, the seventh scale degree is a subtonic, rather than a leading-tone. The flattened seventh of the scale is a tritone away from the mediant ( major-third degree) of the key. The order of whole tones and semitones in a Mixolydian scale is :whole, whole, half, whole, whole, half, whole In the Mixolydian mode, the tonic,

subdominant In music, the subdominant is the fourth tonal degree () of the diatonic scale. It is so called because it is the same distance ''below'' the tonic as the dominant is ''above'' the tonicin other words, the tonic is the dominant of the subdomina ...

, and subtonic triads are all major, the mediant is diminished, and the remaining triads are minor. A classic Mixolydian chord progression is I-VII-IV-V. The Mixolydian mode is common in non-classical harmony, such as folk,

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African-American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African-Americans in the ...

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form that originated among African Americans in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues has incorporated spiritual (music), spirituals, work songs, field hollers, Ring shout, shouts, cha ...

, and rock music. It is often prominently heard in music played on the Great Highland bagpipes. As with natural and harmonic minor, Mixolydian is often used with a major seventh degree as a part of the dominant and perfect cadences. " Wild Thing" by The Troggs is a, "perfect example," while others include " Tangled Up in Blue" by

Bob Dylan Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan; born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Described as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture over his nearly 70-year ...

, " Shooting Star" by Bad Company, and " Bold as Love" by

Jimi Hendrix James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix (born Johnny Allen Hendrix; November 27, 1942September 18, 1970) was an American singer-songwriter and musician. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential guitarists of all time. Inducted ...

.Serena, Desi (2021). ''Guitar Theory For Dummies with Online Practice''M, p.168. Wiley. . Klezmer musicians refer to the Mixolydian scale as the Adonai malakh mode. In Klezmer, it is usually transposed to C, where the main chords used are C, F, and G7 (sometimes Gm). To hear a modern Mixolydian scale, one can play a G-major scale on the piano, but change the F# to F natural.

List of Modern Mixolydian scales

Notable music in Mixolydian mode

Traditional

*" Old Joe Clark"Ted Eschliman,
Something Old. Something New
", ''Mandolin Sessions'' webzine (November 2009) (Accessed 2 February 2010). *" Gleanntáin Ghlas' Ghaoth Dobhair" (English: Gweedore's Green Glens), also called "Paddy's Green Shamrock Shores" – A traditional Irish

folk song Folk music is a music genre that includes #Traditional folk music, traditional folk music and the Contemporary folk music, contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be ca ...

, composed by Francie Mooney (Proinsias Ó Maonaigh). Recorded by the band Altan, with Mooney's daughter Mairéad on lead vocals, on their album '' Runaway Sunday'' (1997). Recorded by The Corrs as "Erin Shore" on their album Forgiven Not Forgotten (1995). *" She Moved Through the Fair" – A traditional Irish folk song. Sometimes called "Our Wedding Day" and sung with different lyrics, such as by vocalist Anne Buckley in Michael Flatley's '' Lord of the Dance'' (1996). *"The Wexford Carol" * " Green Bushes" * And countless Irish, Scottish and Cape Breton jigs, reels, highlands and other dance tunes recorded in the mode.

Classical

*"Fughetta super: Dies sind die heilgen zehn Gebot" in G major from ''Clavier-Übung III'', BWV 679 by

Johann Sebastian Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (German: Help:IPA/Standard German, �joːhan zeˈbasti̯an baχ ( – 28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque music, Baroque period. He is known for his prolific output across a variety ...

Walter Piston. ''Harmony'' (New York: W. W. Norton, 1941): pp. 29–30. * Piano Concerto in A minor, third movement, by Edvard Grieg *'' Concerto in modo misolidio'', P 145 (1925) by Ottorino Respighi * Et resurrexit from Beethoven's Missa solemnis *''Surgam et circuibo civitatem'' by Palestrina

References

External links

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Mixolydian scale on guitar
{{Authority control Modes (music)