minor mode
- noun
- /ˈmaɪnər moʊd/
- Specialized
:
modo menor
- Classical pieces often use a minor mode to evoke deeper emotions and reflections.
I like to think of the Dorian mode as the brightest of the minor modes.
- I like to think of the Dorian mode as the brightest of the minor modes.
Examples
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We may think that a given piece is "sad" music because of its minor mode, only to learn that people within its culture of origin consider this sound to be "happy."
Academic text (2008) -
No matter which two tones of a pentatonic mode are combined, they do not form any minor second or tritone intervals—the two relatively more dissonant intervals found in the diatonic major and minor modes of Western music.
Academic text (2007) -
"This song is set in a simple minor mode."
Academic text (1990) -
What non-Jewish songs do we know that are in the minor mode?
Academic text (1990) -
Most studies treat the Anacreontic tradition as a minor mode in early modern and eighteenth-century English and European literature.
Academic text (2016) -
If we start off with something that's a lot like AD pentatonic in the minor mode, we get that reinforced by the piano part.
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But an inner voice in the orchestra softly plays a fragment of a minor mode fanfare.
Blog text (6) -
When students can accurately perform a simple three-note tune such as "Hot Cross Buns," the teacher could then have students learn the same tune by rote in the parallel minor mode.
Academic text (2015) -
The song's minor mode gives it a melancholic feel that resonates with listeners.
-
Many ballads are composed in a minor mode, enhancing their somber storytelling aspect.
Synonyms
2
5.9
A set of notes that sounds sad or serious
Antonyms
How Bright
- Specialized
1
6.3
- Specialized
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly and compositionally derived from 'minor' (indicating the minor scale/quality) modifying 'mode' (a musical key or scale), so a learner who knows both constituents can infer it denotes a tonality based on a minor scale. This adjective+noun formation and the musical concept are cross-linguistically common, making the sense immediately accessible rather than idiomatic.
Etymology
Minor mode comes from the word minor, which means 'smaller' compared with major. In early music a 'smaller' step between important notes made melodies sound darker and more 'sad', so a minor mode became the name for a musical key that feels sad or serious.