Way up the screen, DB asked to hear what the modes sound like. I wish I had thought of it before, but now I have sent in a MIDI that shows what they sound like. If Joe can do it, a MIDI should appear that takes a simple phrase and plays it in the various modes in turn. You will hear a little ditty followed by three chords. After the three chords, the next mode begins. I used all white notes and played them in the order given in the first post.

After they play, you will hear a new phrase. It is in the Locrian mode, the mode starting on F. Then it replays in the key of F, where B's are flatted. This shows the difference between the old mode and a modern scale.

I wonder whether some of these modes were ever used. Did the ancients just think that every possibility needed a name?

The few chants that appear in "Breaking Bread," the book we sing from in Catholic church, don't use these mode names at all. They have "Mode V, Mode VII" etc. And as far as I can tell, the chants in the book don't fit the categories anyway. I suspect that the publisher selected chants that sound more modern to our ears.