Phrygian: Lament with a Shimmer of Brightness

The deepest minor mode has a unique brightness hidden inside of it.

WHAT IS PHRYGIAN?

Within the Major Scale the Phrygian mode is the third mode and the flattest of the minor modes. The degrees of this mode are 1, b2, b3, 4, 5, b6, b7. In the key of G the chords used for Phrygian are Bm7, CMaj7, D7, Em7, F#m7b5, GMaj7, and Am7. The roman numeral analysis for this set of chords is im7, bIIMaj7, bIII7, iv7, vm7b5, VIMaj7, and vii7. In the chart below, I've also included the key of C as we'll be using that key for most of the examples.

A composer or improvisor can use the four flattened degrees of 2, 3, 6, and 7 to create a mood that pulls back down to the first degree. Another option is to use the chord that builds from the b2 degree, which is a Lydian structure that can be a major triad or Maj7 with a #4/#11. Play a C major chord and then try adding an F# in several octaves. There is a bright dissonance in that Lydian structure and when pulled back down a half-step to a Bm Phrygian chord, it really accents the darkness in the Phrygian mode. Try messing around with a CMaj7 #11 (C E G F#) and follow that up with a Bm7 b9 (B D F# A C) or Bm7 b13 (B D F# A G).

CONTROLLING THE DARKNESS

Phrygian has a few key components that add extra tension within itself, and they mainly revolve around the half-step intervals. Phrygian's movement between degrees 1 & b2 and 5 & b6 give away the lament of this mode. Playing just these four degrees (1, b2, 5, and b6) will give you the intervals of a Minor-Second, a TriTone, and another Minor-Second. This would make for a funky chord, which with a root of E could be called Eb6 b9 no3 or Esusb2 b6 depending on the voicing and context of the chord's use. A better way to handle such a rich sound would be to play a chord like Em or Em7 and then used the intervals b6-5-b6 as a triplet with a brief rest followed by 1-b2-1 as another triplet. Using E as the first degree would give you C-B-C, rest, E-F-E. Degrees 5 and b2 are treated as Neighboring Tones as they move from and back to the tones they originated from.

Playing this does two things. The two triplets use the half-step intervals of Phrygian and immediately give away the sound of the mode. The listener doesn't need to hear the b3 to know that this is a minor mode as the sound implies it. The listener also doesn't need to hear degrees 4 or b7 because the other minor modes (Dorian and Aeolian) also have degrees 4 and b7. Unless you intend on using a more exotic scale/mode like, Dorian b5 or Lydian Augmented, the use of both half-step intervals helps you to state the mode that you are in.

The other thing that these specific triples do for you is that they are a TriTone apart. The movement I used above uses degrees b2(F) and 5(B) as Neighboring Tones. The interval from the b2 to 5 (F to B) is a TriTone. This TriTone interval exists between the half steps of all the modes but having one of the notes moving to the Tonic so easily lets you break up the TriTone into a movement rather than part of a cadence. Here’s why this is important and useful.

Locrian is the same thing as Phrygian, but with a flattened 5th degree. Starting with a Phrygian chord like Bm and then playing a Locrian chord like Bm7b5 allows you to “darken” your sound just by flattening the fifth degree. Bm7b5 is the seventh chord in the key of C, but our Bm Phrygian sound comes from the key of G. All this means is that we have the note F for our Bm7b5 and the note F# for our Bm Phrygian chord. By following Bm7b5 with Em we make it sound like we are in either key if we don’t play the notes F or F#, because Em is in both keys. What happens next is up to the composer. Two simple options would be to play Em with degree b2 or 2, which are F and F#. Going with F# keeps us where we started in the key of G. Using F allows us to stay in the key of C. Below are two examples that use this concept.

BRINGING OUT THE BRIGHTNESS

Phrygian has a very deep and rich sound mainly due to the pull of the b2 note to Tonic. It feels dark and somewhat depressing so it can be a good idea to brighten things up so that the richness doesn't become bland. There are two Maj7 chords in Phrygian that are built from degrees b2 (Lydian) and b6 (Ionian). The b2 degree pulls strongly back to Tonic, so playing a Lydian chord followed by a Phrygian Tonic chord will always make sense at the end of a Phrygian movement.

Ionian starting on the b6 degree can be a bit of a wildcard to use if you don't know where it is relative to a Phrygian Tonic. Let's take a moment to focus on the b6 degree. This is the Chromatic Sub-Mediant. A mediant is a point between a Tonic degree and a Dominant degree, so we can think of this as a way-point to and from Tonic and Dominant structures. Now when I say, "structure", I mean anything that fits the mode that you are playing. If I'm playing E Phrygian, but I am using an F major chord, then I am using a Lydian structure. I could also play a Lydian melody with F as "root" note and it would be a Lydian structure. That entire structure built on F is also E Phrygian's b2 degree, so any F Lydian structure I play can easily move into an E Phrygian structure.

C Ionian built from our b6 degree can be treated as a mediant with a twist. The natural 6 degree is the Sub-Mediant. We can play this as a point to or from other modal structures. By flattening degree 6 we now treat that mediant as a chromatic passing tone. Yes, there are other uses, but I’ll focus on this as a passing tone. This means that in E Phrygian we can play C Ionian structures, but we need to move through C Ionian and not focus on it too much. Here's an example that adds brightness using C Ionian as a Chromatic Sub-Mediant.

Starting with an Em chord followed by a G major starts off a sound that fits Dorian, Aeolian, or Phrygian. Leaving some ambiguity as to what mode I am in will help me accent structures that belong only to Phrygian in the next few bars. Playing a C major chord will make this movement sound either Aeolian or Phrygian, so I've opted to play the note F to make the C melody an Ionian structure relative to Phrygian. Now I want to move back down to E as my Tonic. Using an FMaj7 allows me to keep that Maj7 feeling that I had in my C Ionian melody. F Lydian is rooted out of degree b2 and helps the movement pull down to Em as our Tonic chord.

Feel free to experiment with the above progression with a focus on C Ionian and F Lydian. Those two modes will add brightness to any E Phrygian Tonic structure. If you want some brightness moving hard to Tonic, the focus on F Lydian. If you want some lingering brightness in your movement, then use C Ionian in passing. Using both structures will brighten your movement further and thus give an extra rich darkness when you arrive back at an E Phrygian Tonic.

A SUB-TONIC "ULTRA-DECEPTIVE" CADENCE

The Sub-Tonic is degree b7 which starts the Dorian mode when your Tonic mode is Phrygian. In context of the Major Scale, or the Ionian mode, the Dorian mode is a whole step above the Tonic. In Phrygian, Dorian is a whole step below tonic which creates a type of mirrored effect. Using a short progression of Em, CMaj7, Dm7, Em lets us go from Tonic and through our Chromatic Sub-Mediant to D Dorian as our Sub-Tonic. The Sub-Tonic wants to move up to Tonic, so any D Dorian Sub-Tonic structure will want to move up to E Phrygian. Now this doesn't work this way if we are not using Phrygian as our Tonic mode. That would place Dorian somewhere else in another scale or mode.

In this case, we can use Dm7 to move up to Em. This is kind of standard since we are just using chords with their own seventh degree notes. To liven things up I'll use my tried-and-true Dm6 chord. This is a Dorian chord that contains a TriTone, so it has a pull that goes back to Tonic. Normally the Dm6 chord goes to either a C major chord or an A minor chord and treats either C or A as the true Tonic note. In this case D is the Sub-Tonic note and wants to move up to E as the true Tonic. The TriTone interval makes the Dm6 chord feel like a Dominant chord that also wants to go to a Tonic and resolve to a chord with a Perfect Fifth interval. The chart below shows some of the voice leading used in the progression Em, CMaj7, D6, Em. Notice how the CMaj7 chord is an Em with the note C added to the bass end. Then the notes C and G move toward each other to help create the D6 chord, which allows the notes D and F to move further inward to E. The D6 chord also has a TriTone interval from F to B and is then resolved by a chord containing a Perfect Fifth interval from E to B.

Whenever we take a Dominant chord and resolve to something other than the expected Tonic we create a type of Deceptive Cadence. A cadence is how we end a musical phrase, and this kind is very deceptive due to the TriTone. A TriTone interval resolves very strongly at an expected Tonic that is normally Ionian or Aeolian in structure. Using Dm6 to Em7 is like saying, "Let's go home", but then you drop your passenger off on the side of a dark road with a dilapidated signpost that reads, “Phrygian”. This sounds like something that would make you out to be the bad guy, but that's the point of Phrygian so drop your listener right there on the side of a minor chord with a flatten second degree and own it. You could even play CMaj7-Dm6-FMaj7-Em and use the b2 Lydian sound to give some hopefulness before leaving your listener to fend for themselves.

BORROWING A STRONG RESOLUTION

With any mode you can always go to the Tonic note's fifth degree and built a Dominant 7 chord. In E Phrygian a B7 is the borrowed Secondary Dominant that leads to Em. In my post about the Dorian mode, I talked briefly about TriTone Substitutions. This concept allows us to use a Dominant 7 chord that is a half-step above our target chord in place of the B7. This substituted chord is F7 and will have more tension than the B7 chord when we move to Em. This is a flavor of sound that you may love or hate depending on how you move towards the Tonic. If you are trying to move naturally to E using a strong Dominant sound, then B7 is the way to go. If you are trying to get to E with a Dominant feel but want to play off the b2 to Tonic pull, then F7 will be your best friend. Since we are focusing on Phrygian and we already have a b2 degree, then using F7 won’t sound completely out of context.

You can also use a utilize a m7b5 chord. This chord moves up a half-step to a major Tonic or down a whole step to a minor Tonic. In this case F#m7b5 resolving to Em works, but it makes Em feel like it is in Aeolian. This gives you some options. E Phrygian is in the key of C and E Aeolian is in the key of G. They are neighboring keys on the circle of fifths and can let you explore new sounds. Try out Em, CMaj7, F#mb5, Em on your own. When you get to the second Em, try playing a little melody with either F or F# in it. If you use F, then you came back to where you started with E Phrygian. If you went for F#, then you have changed keys and went to E Aeolian.

USING AEOLIAN TO BRIGHTEN PHRYGIAN

A simple E Phrygian chord progression could go Em, FMaj7, CMaj7, B7, repeat Em, FMaj7, CMaj7, B7 and then end on Em. It sounds Phrygian with a nice brightness and moves strongly back to Tonic. But how else can we brighten this sound if we chose to do so? A great tool for this is Modal Interchange. This is where we change the key, and therefore the mode, for an extended period. This could be a few bars to the rest of a song. For this example, we'll change the key for several measures and then return to our original key.

INTERCHANGE TO AEOLIAN

Starting with the same Em, FMaj7, CMaj7, B7, Em from the key of C or E Phrygian (which are the same notes), we can use the B7 chord to go to E Aeolian instead of E Phrygian. This takes us from the key of C to the key of G. We can then continue our progression with CMaj7 as it fits both keys. Then we can play Bm7, B7, and come back to Em for a Phrygian melody. Take a listen to the following progression in free time and listen for the brightness in the Em Aeolian structure and the darkness of the Em Phrygian structure that follows each B7 chord.

MODULATION TO AEOLIAN

Another option is to borrow out of a neighboring key. You can borrow from any key, but neighboring keys are some of the most common borrows. In this example, we'll use the key of C and borrow out of G. This means that we'll be in E Phrygian but borrow one chord from the parallel mode of E Aeolian. This may sound like a lot, but the difference between the key of C and G is that C has the note F and the key of G has the note F#. The difference is just F or F#. E will remain our Tonic note. We'll just be borrowing the note F# for one chord to utilize a new sound. Now we have already used this in the previous example, but that was for Interchange where we change the key for an extended period. This time we will do it for one measure or less. This allows us to Modulate momentarily.

For this modulation example we’ll start with FMaj7 and Em. This way we know that we are in E Phrygian based on the chords and notes used with a focus on the notes F and E. However, when we get to Em we’ll play a melody that uses F# in place of F. This is our modulation. We can then follow up with CMaj7 using a melody that uses the note F so that we immediately come back to our original key. Then we’ll finish with FMaj7 and Em, but F will be the note used for any melodies. Listen for the F# to add an unexpected brightness to that first Em structure.

THE BLUES HIDDEN IN PHRYGIAN

Just like Aeolian is the relative minor to Ionian, Phrygian is the relative minor to Mixolydian. Without getting into Mixolydian too much we can think of Mixolydian as the "natural" blues scale. Thinking this way can lead us to using Phrygian as the relative natural blues scale. To show this off I'll use an Andalusian Cadence in the key of C.

The chords I'll use for this cadence are from A Aeolian and are Am, G, F, E7 repeated and ending on Am. This progression of i, bVII, bVI, to a borrowed V7/i (which means dominant seven of minor one) leading back to i is the heart of the Andalusian Cadence. Normally we use a b2 against the E7 chord because E7 is from Mixolydian and the b2 comes from Mixolydian's relative minor, Phrygian. We can still do this, but I'll take this one step further and play the b2 of Am. In this way I am modulating that A Aeolian chord and making it sound A Phrygian. The borrowed note here is Bb, which is the fourth note from the key of F, which is also the key of C's other neighboring key. Now my Andalusian Cadence has a Phrygian flair as shown below with an audio clip. I’ll also use the A Minor Blues Scale (degrees 1, b3, 4, 5, and b7) combined with the b2 degree so that our Am chords sound Phrygian Blues. To top it all off, the following example is in 6/8 timing.

PHRYGIAN AS YOUR OWN LAYER OF DEPTH

Try out your own variations using Phrygian. If you don’t know where to start, then try E Phrygian which uses the notes E, F, G, A, B, C, and D. There are no sharps or flats. Find a groove or mood that speaks Phrygian to you and when you find yourself needing that extra touch just use any of the examples from above. A quick modal modulation or a step into left field through a modal interchange can make a huge difference. You can even use the b2 against a Dorian, Aeolian, or Mixolydian structure to borrow out that b2 to Tonic pull. Keep in mind that you have other distinct Phrygian sounds like in the b6 degree which creates that bright Maj7 Chromatic Sub-Mediant that can lead you to so many interesting sounds.

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