Why are songs in Mixolydian mode notated in major mode?
I am learning "A Hard Day's Night" by the Beatles which is in G Mixolydian mode or C major. In the score I have of this song the writer notated the song in G major and used accidentals on the notes that are not part of the G major scale. Why couldn't they have just used C major as the home key as all the notes pertain to that key?
Is this because the song keeps going back to that G chord? If this is the reason, it seems silly, because you could have a C major song with these chords in a bridge, and then it would be notated in C major.
(3)3 Comments
Sorted by latest first Latest Oldest Best
Consider the song "Little Drummer Boy". If one writes the song with a key-note of G, the melody and some possible harmonizations would be devoid of F-sharps. On the other hand, the only F in the melody occurs in a rising passage where, in the absence of a printed accidental, a performer would likely be more likely to notice that the note is just below the key note of G (which, since the song seems to be in major, would imply that it should be just a half step below the key note, i.e. F#) than to remember that even though the piece seems to be in G, there's no F# in the key signature.
If putting a natural sign before the F would be necessary to ensure it gets performed correctly, having an F# in the key signature which gets canceled by the natural sign would be no less readable than omitting the F# in the key signature and using a cautionary accidental. Unless one is hand-transcribing a score, there's no need to try to minimize the total number of sharp signs on the page.
I think that G Mixolydian uses the same notes as C major, therefore it should have the same key sig. - no # or b. It shouldn't really have a g major key sig., as it's not in G major.
However, it could be argued that because 'home' is a G note, when it's written in G (F# key sig.) and all the Fs are natural, it's a sign that it's not actually in G major, but G Mixolydian. But surely the main purpose of a key sig. is to obviate the need to keep using accidentals throughout the piece?
Your header hints of why Mixolydian is a major mode. Simply as it contains a major third above its root.
I think the song is more ambiguous than you state. If the G chord contains an F, then the song is in G mixolydian, but if the G chord contains an F?, then the song is in G major. The problem is that the chords aren't voiced with a 7th at all. If we turn to the melody for guidance, we find that the melody never contains a 7th over the G chord. We do hear the F in the melody, but only over the FMaj chord. However, we also hear F? in the melody (numerous times in the bridge).
So for the person notating, it's ambiguous whether the song is based on G major or G mixolydian. On the one hand, if they write the key signature with an F?, they'll have to specifically mark the F?s in the chorus. On the other hand, if they write the key signature with an F?, then they'll have to specifically mark the F?s in the bridge. So neither choice is perfect. Given that fact, choosing G major for the key signature avoids any additional confusion: no one will mistake the song as being in the key of C major.
Terms of Use Privacy policy Contact About Cancellation policy © freshhoot.com2025 All Rights reserved.