BookatlasPiano Rabbit Hole: Improvisation Theory & Practice
17579 / 18210 · Workshop 123 — Composing Outside Your Comfort Zone: How to Write in Unfamiliar Keys, Modes, Meters, and Tempos Without Losing Your Musical Identity← prev⊞ allnext →

123.227Mini-project 2 — Modal Composition

Choose:

Dorian

Lydian

Mixolydian

or Phrygian.

Write:

16–24 bars.

Requirements:

  • establish characteristic degree
  • avoid conventional V-I for first 75%
  • use pedal or repeated center
  • one moment of modal ambiguity
  • optional functional dominant only near end

The mode should sound like:

a world,

not:

a scale demonstration.