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mode

A scale defined by which of its notes is treated as home; the same notes yield a different mode from each starting point.

A scale defined by which of its notes you treat as home. Take the seven notes of C major and make D home, or E, or A, and each starting point gives a different mode with its own color, all from the same notes. Major and natural minor are simply the two most famous of the seven, and the relative key relationship is modal thinking in embryo.

Learn it: Minor scales

The one-sentence definition at the top is the same one the Theory Aide extension shows as a tooltip inside Ableton Live. Hover any dotted term for its own.