The modes are grouped in pairs:

Mode I and II both use the scale (re - re), the scale called "Dorian".
Mode III and IV use the scale (mi - mi), called "Phrygian".
Mode V and VI use the scale (fa - fa), called "Lydian".
Mode VII and VIII use the scale (sol - sol) called "Mixolydian".

Within each pair, the modes differ by their range. Mode II pieces have the same scale as mode I, but have a lower range.

A chart appears in the WIkipedia article at this link:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gregorian_mode#Tonality

In each case, the final node of the mode is marked with 'f':

I saw this chart Chonak, thanks.

This is basically what I explained to schola this morning. I was hoping it was right.

thank you again.

It is (at least) as helpful as understanding the difference between major and minor in conventional music. You can perform something based on just knowing what all the notes are, or you can perform something with an understanding of how it is structured. It makes a difference.

I also meant to point out that just because a chant range is "re - re" or other, does not mean it can not go beyond that range, it just means that it is generally focused in that range, if that makes any sense.

I made these, and have used them as warmups and to help fix the "feel" of the traditional modes, for beginner chanters I have worked with. The melodies are based on some I learned from Susan Hellauer who gave a "Modes by Ear" workshop: for my purposes I made them more "liturgical".

I was introduced to the modes using the scales in Chonak's example. To be honest, that never really did much for me. I have a musical background, so it all made logical sense, but there was a bit of "who cares?" about it all.

It didn't start to be interesting until I heard the songs (like in Jonathan's booklet) and saw that the modes strongly communicate emotion. We don't have much of a language for that these days.

And it got REALLY interesting when I heard the accompaniments that can be used with the modes. And it made me realize how limited we are in modern music to think that major=happy and minor=sad. What a rich range of communication we've lost!

Many thanks, Jonathan K-K, for a very succinct yet lucid treatment of the modes. With your permission, I might use it for instruction and 'hand-out' at classes of St Basil's School of Gregorian Chant. 'The modes' do seem to have about them a mystical aura. They really are not all that complicated, yet seem to be thoroughly confusing to neophytes. A part of this, I think, is that we are encountering more and more people in our society who do not even understand the major-minor system, the difference between whole and half tones, or even to sing the do-re-mi's, let alone have more than a cursory familiarity with reading music. Thanks for your useful treatise!

These are all very helpful, thank you!

Regarding my booklet, feel free to use it.

Although if you do actually use it with a class, I wouldn't mind if you messaged; that can be encouraging.

Remember that what we call Music Theory—the kind that is taught in most schools—is an attempt to explain all Western music of all time periods using one standard framework. Our time is the only time in history when musicians were expected to perform music of all style periods. Medieval singers sang medieval music. Baroque singers sang baroque music. In Mozart's day, singers weren't also performing Ockeghem and Gregorian chant, Bach and Perotin.

When we talk about the 7 modes (Ionian, Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, Mixolydian, Aeolian, Locrian) we are talking about different expressions of the diatonic scale. That is, the set of notes that are arranged in a set order of whole and half steps. Some will think of Lydian mode, for example, as fa sol la ti do re mi fa. Others consider it in relation to a fixed do: do re me fa# sol la ti do. Either way, we're speaking of a certain order of whole and half steps that is unique to that mode and that give it a characteristic flavor. But that is not the way that medieval singers of chant would have thought about the concept of mode.

The 4 pairs of church modes—the ones used for Gregorian chant—do not refer to a special order of whole and half steps per se. It is not a scale in which melodies are composed. Rather, it is a way to classify the ancient chants by their final (the last note of the chant) in order to pair an antiphon with the correct psalm tone formula for the verses. The mode designations and the psalm tones have changed throughout history for a number of chants and are not as fixed as we may be led to believe by "modern" chant books (modern in this case being 1908, for the Graduale).

While it is true that as you become more familiar with the chant repertory, you will notice certain similarities among chants of the same mode, there is really no reason to teach modes to a beginning schola (or even to an advanced one, unless you are planning to edit your own book of chant). The mode designation does not give you any additional information that is necessary for performing the chant. Given the number of questions I have seen about modes (and the number of articles, diagrams, and charts), I would suggest avoiding the topic altogether in a schola rehearsal. What is important is a knowledge of solfege and the ability to sing whole steps and half steps in their proper place (between mi and fa, ti and do, and occasionally between la and ti-b or te).

Thank you Incantu. I agree entirely. I always tell people that if they ever need to know what mode a chant is in, that it is printed in the book. I don’t see how modal theory changes much, if anything, as far as how one actually sings a given chant.

I find it humorous to picture one of the ancient cantors, centuries before the invention of notation, sitting down with a pen and saying “ok I’m going to compose a gradual, what dominate should I use?”.

I have found it extremely helpful to talk a little about the modes, especially the 'funny ones' : III & IV especially (the modes on MI), but also VII & VIII (the modes on SOL). I have found it helpful to remind the choir : "Don't forget this is a MI mode - with the funny ending - SOL-FA-MI, the half-step is above the final."

Bagpipes are thrilling!
Pipe on, and
Godspeed!

@CHGiffen, are you suggesting that re-la would be intoned differently in mode I (where la is a fifth above the final) than in mode VI (where it would be a third)?

I would be happy if I had a choir who could justly intone a perfect fifth in any mode! And given the number of times that the manuscripts have "s(ursum)" written for unison or for descending pitches, the ambiguity from source to source of pitches that have a half-step relationship, and the frequent occurrence of initio debilis neumes beginning in unison with the previous pitch (not to mention the numerous changes of pitch on liquescents), I doubt medieval singers had as universally excellent intonation practices as we might like to think. However, I do not disagree that the medieval concept of pitch might have been very different from what our ears are used to.

Fourths I have down, because I realized that Jerome Kern's All the Things You Are is constructed using them, so just sing it every morning. Now descending fourths...haven't found a song for that.

(Stacked fourths, for more modern music: the Star Trek fanfare.)

Anyway, this discussion has actually been very useful--and should illustrate to the original questioner why teaching them to a choir might not be necessary. I have been in classes where some people sang the final while everyone sang the melody. That makes it pop out.

Kenneth

I know this is a rather old thread, but I only joined the forum a couple months ago. I was Googling to find a way to explain the differences between the modes to a friend of mine. She is a very good pianist and an aspiring organist, but is new to the concept of the church modes. Jonathan's booklet is exactly what I was looking for. It is both detailed and yet short enough to be easily read. Thank you for providing that resource.