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Is there a mode which contains the following notes?

E flat
D
D flat
C
Aaron
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lionel319
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    There is no diatonic mode with three (or even two) adjacent semitone steps. Are you looking for a "mode" that contains only C, D♭, D, and E♭, or are additional notes allowed? – Theodore Jan 04 '24 at 16:35
  • Perhaps edit to explain what "mode" means to you. Maybe it's just the wrong word, and you're simply looking for "a set of pitches that you can use." There are some, like the chromatic "scale" (aka "collection")! – Andy Bonner Jan 04 '24 at 16:41
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    Your question isn't clear. "with the following [tones]". Does that mean the entire "mode" is those four tones, or the "mode" contains at least those tones? Beyond that is the question of what you mean by mode. Those tones don't match a Church mode. But you can use other terms - like motif, set, etc. - to refer to a group of tones depending on context. You should explain more about how these tones are being treated in some actual music. – Michael Curtis Jan 04 '24 at 17:08
  • This could be a fine question if you explained your reason for asking. As it stands, it's too vague to be useful. – the-baby-is-you Jan 04 '24 at 18:49
  • All notes in a song, or in a bar, or anywhere, don't need to fit in any single scale. Scales are just helper grids to help you come up with stuff and reason about things. You can use many different helper grids in a song or a bar or a beat, or none at all, or you can modify a grid or make your own. – piiperi Reinstate Monica Jan 04 '24 at 20:02

1 Answers1

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That's a very unusual collection of notes to find together (except as passing tones). There is no diatonic or melodic minor mode that contains three consecutive semitones, or does it occur in the heptonia tertia, double harmonic scale, or phrygian dominant scale. Likewise, you won't find these notes together in any common pentatonic, hexatonic, or octatonic scale.

One place where these pitches could co-occur is the chromatic scale, which contains all the notes you'll find on a normal piano.

X: 1
T: Chromatic scale
K: none
M: none
%%stretchlast yest
C^CD^D EF^FG ^GA^AB c2|
cB_BA _AG_GF E_ED_D C2|]

Another place is the Scala Enigmatica in the key of D. The Scala Enigmatica includes a minor second, augmented sixth, and major seventh, which gives it three consecutive minor seconds around the root, though it would be very strange to write these notes as you have here.

X: 1
T: Scala Enigmatica
K: none
M: none
%%titlefont serif italic
%%stretchlast 1
D_E^F^G ^A^B^c d3|
d^c^B^A =G^F_E D3|]
A. R.
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