Some years ago I went to early-music workshops taught by professionals - symphony orchestra level people. They gave me a print-out of the modes in order. Here they are:


1. Ionian
2. Dorian
3. Phrygian
4. Lydian
5. Mixolydian
6. Aeolian
7. Locrian

Example: to do a song in the Lydian mode, start on the 4th note of a scale. During the course of the song, let the 4th note be prominent, in the form of long notes, highest notes or lowest notes. End on the 4th note. You can see how this system might help some helpless monk with little education cope with a huge amount of church music.

In my experience, Ionian is the everyday major scale, Dorian is interesting, and Aeolian is the ordinary minor. Locrian is probably mythical, and the others are nothing special. I have a friend who is a professional pianist, and she's told me she learned about the modes in college and hasn't given them a thought since - 40 years.

Modern songs which start out modal almost always wind up having the last note be the first note of the scale. (The congregation likes to know what's going on.)

I made up a silly sentence to remember the order:

Iona & Dora prefer Lydia's mixed aioli lox.