Scales of the World
1488-1563
The Ionian mode is another name for the scale we know today as the Major scale.
Heard of it?
You may recall from our discussion entitled “Seven Tones” that our modern modes originated from ancient Greek scales.
The scales were adopted by the Catholic Church in the middle ages, and many music theorists saw other scale or mode possibilities and suggested how they should be organized.
However the arrangement and ordering of the modes we still accept today is the work of Heinrich Glarean a German music theorist, poet and humanist who lived from 1488-1563. His major work is called “dodecacordon” meaning 12 stringed instrument
The Major scale can be described as docile, happy, joyful. To many Western ears it has the most logical and perfect resolution.
