Musical Terminology

The term modal refers to modes of a scale. In modern music, the concept is used most commonly in jazz improvisation, with different modes being used with different types of chords. In medieval times, the different modes were used for entire songs - especially in the chants used in religious services.

A scale is made up of a series of notes, with varying space between the pitches. The modern major scale is made up of seven notes, with whole step and half step intervals between the notes of the scale. For purposes of illustration, I'll use the C major scale since it has no sharps or flats to confuse the issue.

The sequence of notes and intervals in a C major scale is: C, whole step, D, whole step, E, half step, F, whole step, G, whole step, A, whole step, B, and a half step back to C. The half steps are between the third and forth note and between the seventh note and the octave.

Particular notes are more important in a given scale. The first and fifth notes (C and G in the C scale) are particularly important. They (and some other notes) are used in special ways, including being used as the pitches on which chords are built.

Think about what would happen if we used the same notes as in a C scale, but started on D. The D and A are now the first and fifth notes.If we used them in the same way as we normally use the first and fifth notes, the music would sound quite different, because the whole and half steps would fall in different places in the scale and in the chords we use. That's a different mode of the scale.

There are seven different modes that correspond to starting the scale on each of the seven notes in the scale. Because the modes were used in the catholic church, which used Latin as its language, each mode has a Latin name.

Ionian is the mode starting on the first note of the major scale, so the Ionian mode is the major scale.

Dorian mode starts on the second note of the major scale. It's used in jazz over minor chords.

Phrygian mode starts on the third note;

Lydian mode starts on the fourth note, and there's an entire branch of jazz based on this mode;

Mixolydian starts on the fifth note and is used over dominant 7 chords in jazz;

Aolian mode starts on the sixth note and is the modern natural minor scale; and

Locrian mode starts on the seventh note.

I know this may seem pretty complicated, but in fact, this has been a very simplified explanation of a very complicated topic.

DC in music stands for Da Capo, which is Italian for "go back to the beginning".

Often, DC is used along with DC al Fine, meaning Da Capo al Fine, which means go the the beginning and continue to the "fine", which is the ending.

Constrast this with DS, meaning Da Segno, which means go back to the sign, or DS al Fine which means go back to the sign and continue to the ending.

Sometimes, there is a coda, which is an alternate ending, somewhat like a secondary or tertiary repeat.