Aeolian mode

The Aeolian mode, short Aeolian is next to one of the Ionic system of church modes added in the 16th century by Glarean authentic modes. In the extended ( consisting of twelve keys ) system of church modes Aeolian is the ninth tone (indicated by the Ambitus a- a1, the repercussa e1 and the final, a). From äolischenTonleiter went to our present ( natural ) minor scale out. In this scale is a semitone between the second and third and the fifth and sixth stage, the other intervals are whole steps.

The Aeolian scale originated in ancient Greece as a variant of the old hypodorischen mode.

One of the differences between the Aeolian mode and the subsequent minor scale type is that the modal music was intended solely melodic, with the major -minor tonal contrast and harmonic aspects are relevant.

An example of the use of the Aeolian mode is the folk song It's a reaper, called Death ( Regensburg 1637 ).

Sheet music sample

The Key A Aeolian contains the master tones of Western music, which correspond to the white keys keyboard instruments. Scale in A Aeolian with marked semitones:

Sample

Scale in C Aeolian? / I