I have noticed that there are a number of songs, of which two that come to mind are "She Moved Through the Fair" and the pseudo-folksong music of "The Great Silkie", where the song is in one key (say D) and immediately after the opening the song goes down 2 notes to the next "major key" down (say C) and then wanders back and forth, or goes back up to the original key. Somebody asked me about this the other day, and relying on my vast Mudcat modal knowledge, I said that I thought this might be a Dorian or Mixolydian thing; but I was talking out of my hat. Is this little phenomenon at the beginning of a song a tipoff to some specific mode?

yours,

Peter T.