Music Theory • Re: The Dorian Mode And Scale "Tendencies"

To me, Dorian defines much of uplifting trance, bringing to mind releases by some UK and Nordic artists.

Some examples would be:

Slusink Luna - Sun (4:15)
There the IV is in passing as IV-v, followed by bVII-i.


Anjunabeats - Volume One (Original Mix) (2:09)


Super8 & Tab feat. Anton Sonin - Black Is The New Yellow (Original Mix) (1:49)
A rather clean example of i-bIII-v-IV (or 0[0,3,7] - 3[0,4,7] - 7[0,3,7] - 5[0,4,7] for those who think in 12).



From eurodance (historically preceding the above trance tracks) a couple of i-v-ii-IV (or 0[0,3,7] - 7[0,3,7] - 2[0,3,7] - 5[0,4,7]) examples come to mind:

Culture Beat - Serenity (Epilog) (1:09)
2 Unlimited- Jump for Joy



From videogames I recall The River of Souls from Turok 2 (3:17)
First two chords changes of the main progression are i-IV.


And if that seems to remind you of something, it might be The Good, the Bad and the Ugly theme.
At first the IV seems implied, and at other places (1:00) it's actually there.

[...] My question is, do you have a natural tendency towards a specific mode/scale? Have you looked back at your music to analyze this aspect?

Natural Minor, Dorian... sometimes Mixolydian. At least when I'm not using the "12 degrees, any pitch set on any degree" approach. The latter is more fun when creating freely on a whim, whereas scales I tend to use as shortcuts towards something predefined.

I'd agree with your characterization of Dorian. Hopeful, bittersweet, ambiguous.

Statistics: Posted by N__K — Tue Apr 02, 2024 9:49 pm

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