TELEPHONE: Modes

For this article, you need to know:
- The Basics

By now, you know major and minor keys pretty well. You know that each has its own scale and resulting set of chords, and that the three types of minor are variations on this. Just to recap:

Major (using C as an example) I    - C E G ii   - D F A iii  - E G B IV   - F A C V    - G B D vi   - A C E vii° - B D F

Natural Minor (again using c) i    - C  E♭ G ii°  - D  F  A♭ III  - E♭ G  B♭ iv   - F  A♭ C v    - G  B♭ D VI   - A♭ C  E♭ VII  - B♭ D  F

If you want to write out the charts for harmonic and melodic minor, it'd be good practice, but we don't need them to explain modes.

Up until now, we've been calling major and natural minor "keys", but it's more accurate to call them "modes". There are seven modes, actually: they include major, natural minor, and five scales that are sort of in between.

Basically, each mode is just a different pattern of sharps or flats. Each mode has a name. What we know as "the major scale" is also called "Ionian mode", and the natural minor scale is Aeolian mode. The seven mode names, in order, are: Ionian, Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, Mixolydian, Aoelian, Locrian.

Before we explain how (and why) to memorize the modes, here's your Gaga example: "Telephone" is written in Dorian mode. Dorian mode is essentially the natural minor scale with a raised sixth, so a C Dorian scale would go C-D-E♭-F-G-A♮-B♭-C. (C natural minor, or C Aoelian, would have had an A♭.)

Gaga chose to write "Telephone" in F Dorian, specifically, so we just take the same pattern of accidentals (if you need to, just count how many half-steps there are between each of the scale degrees, and copy it into the new key) and transpose it into F. The F Dorian scale is, therefore: F-G-A♭-B♭-C-D♮-E♭-F.

Look at the sheet music for the beginning of the song, written for the harp.
[picture]
As you can see, we write the key signature for F Dorian with three flats, as opposed to four for F minor. This is because, simply, the scale only has three flats in it. (It's also because Dorian is based on the second degree of the major scale, and F is the second degree of the E♭ major scale, and the E♭ major scale has three flats. But we'll make that more clear in a minute.)

This may seem a little overcomplicated; why not just write the song in F minor and have all of the D♮s written in as accidentals? The reason lies in the chord patterns. The fact that the D is now natural changes all of the chords that contain D: specifically, the two, four, and six. Look at the chord chart for Dorian mode:

Dorian (root F)

i    - F  A♭ C

ii   - G  B♭ D♮

III  - A♭ C  E♭

IV   - B♭ D♮ F

v    - C  E♭ G

vi°  - D♮ F  A♭

VII  - E♭ G  B♭

So the most important part of Dorian mode is that it has a major IV. It's also notable that its ii chord is minor, not diminished, and its vi chord is now diminished, not minor. But that major IV, in contrast to the minor i, is what gives Dorian its flavor. So it makes sense that Gaga emphasizes that chord in "Telephone". Check out the chord progression:

	Hello, hello...	I can't...	I have got...	the club...
f:	i	III	IV	i

[to be finished]