First of all, a mnemonic (pronounced ne-mon-ic with a short e) is a device that assists the memory.

Second, I went to an early music workshop where they handed out a list of the modes. This is how they work. Take a major scale, any scale. If a song begins and presumably ends on the first note of the scale, and if the half-note intervals are between 3&4 and 7&8, then it is in the Ionian mode. (Those half-notes are exactly where we would expect them to be in a major scale. The intervals of a major scale are tonic-whole-whole-half-whole-whole-whole-half.)

Each time we go up a step with our starting note, we have a new mode. If we number the notes, the whole and half steps get new numbers. We keep the tonic-whole-whole-half-whole-whole-whole-half order, but we start and end in a different place in that list. Historically, emphasis is placed on where the half-steps are because they often pack the wallop.

The names of the modes are:

Ionian
Dorian
Phrygian
Lydia
Mixolydian
Aolian
Locrian.

I'm trying to develop a mnemonic sentence for remembering the modes in order. I've got a start but need help finishing it:

Iona (and) Dora prefer Lydia's mixed (or mixture of) ------ -------.

We need words that begin with A and L, preferably that evoke Aolian and Locrian. Any ideas?

BTW, I don't find modes useful at all, even in doing Greogorian chant. Mostly I use this knowledge to deal with people who irritate me by dismissing any creative piece of traditional music with a shrug and "It's modal."