Halman said:
What the hell is lydian? I have to know, since I'm full of natural music talent, arn't I?[
Lydian is the forth musical mode. You may know of the church modes from gregorian chant--the modern modes are not identical to these, but similar. The easiest way to achieve them is to play on all white keys on a piano as follows:
Ionian (major) - C to C
Dorian (minor) - D to D
Phrygian (minor) - E to E
Lydian (major) - F to F
Mixolydian (major) - G to G
Aeolian (minor) - A to A
Locrian (half diminished) - B to B
If you were to transpose these, you could form them from the major scale with the following alterations:
Ionian - none
Dorian - lowered 3rd, lowered 7th
Phrygian - lowered 2nd, lowered 3rd, lowered 6th, lowered 7th
Lydian - raised 4th
Mixolydian - lowered 7th
Aeolian - lowered 3rd, lowered 6th, lowered 7th
Locrian - lowered 2nd, lowered 3rd, lowered 5th, lowered 6th, lowered 7th
It should be noted that Ionian is the conventional major, and aeolian is the conventional natural minor. The modes today are most commonly used in certain compositions (Persechetti and Bartok were very fond of them, for example) and in jazz improvisation (where dorian is the minor scale of choice usually, mixolydian is the scale of choice over a dominant 7 chord, and locrian is one of the only options over a half-diminished chord--the other modes crop up in jazz improv as well, those are just the most common examples). Locrian is somewhat rare to find as the main tonality of piece however--it lacks a perfect 5th relationship between tonic and dominant and thus is extremely unstable.
What's wrong, ChrisReid? I was asked to write a piece for a primarily educational musical ensemble as a tribute for their 20th anniversary. I thought it was an appropriate subject. You may think it's cheesy, but I have a feeling the experience I am describing and writing about is something virtually every musician can relate to and understand, and a very real and important thing. Either way, it's what influenced the notes. Also, I unfortionately do not have any webspace that is available for this, but if anyone knows where I can get a fairly large amount of space that will allow me to upload MP3s, and that's free, that would be wonderful (I've looked unsuccessfully). And finally in this day and age of 2006, stealing music has become easier than ever--better to protect yourself than be sorry later.