I think mixolydian and more generally the bVII-I cadence is used in video game music in a more general sense to evoke a feeling of confidence. Sometimes that is juxtaposed with an absurd cartoonish scenario which makes it come across as a bit silly, but that's all it is, the context surrounding the confidence. To me the sound on its own feels much more boisterous and self-assured than anything else, which comes across slightly goofy in some video game scenarios, but has a certain wholesome stride that keeps it grounded.
Exactly, that's what I was thinking - it generally gives (to me at least) more of a macho or heroic vibe which can come across as goofy within the context of certain characters.
Yes, exactly. Context is everything. In fact, I love Mixolydian, and most examples of Mixolydian music I can think of sound heroic, confident, adventurous, melancholic, bittersweet, funky, groovy, folky, medieval-ish, or sometimes even "exotic"... but usually not goofy. Mixolydian can also sound playful of course (there's quite a few VGM examples), but I feel it's not the norm.
As a Brazilian that spent a lot of time listening to the musical genre called Baião, the mixolydian mode evokes a feeling of dryness, hot and arid air, typical of the climate of the places where it's been invented. I believe the most important difference between Baião and the mixolydian modes showed on the video is that Baião doesn't really resolve the flat 7 tension - it let's it linger as if it where the natural resting place of the scale. Listen to some music written by Luiz Gonzaga to understand what i mean, it is truly something in itself!
This is so interesting because the strongest reference I have for mixolydian has been in Worship music growing up, which always gave a “contemplative” or “yearning” feeling. b7-1 is so versatile 🤩
This is so interesting because the strongest reference I have for mixolydian has been in Worship music growing up, which always gave a “contemplative” or “yearning” feeling. b7-1 is so versatile 🤩
Dire Dire Docks, Kokiri Forest, Zora's Domain, and Hyrule Field all are great mixolydian songs. I love the versatility of it, and it's always mesmerized me how many moods that mixolydian can evoke.
I'd actually argue that Dire Dire Docks isn't entirely mixolydian, because the 6 chord is borrowed from g minor (I'm talking about that absolutely sexy EbM7 chord), and we only get the E natural note in the 2 and 4 chords during that piece. Also glad someone else mentioned Kokiri Forest before I did.
@@MercuryHg34 I was considering the EbM7 as just another mode mixture I guess? Since it only shows up at the end of each big phrase. And yeah I absolutely LOVE that chord there. The "Mario cadence" gets a hell of a lot of mileage from Kondo!
I agree that mixolydian is quite versatile, and that while some of the goofy examples given in the video are truly goofy, I would argue that Hyrule Field, and also every song you mentioned is not at all goofy, even without using minor feels. Hyrule Field and Kokiri Forest are both quite jaunty and smiley, but I'd also argue that they underscore a hero's journey and the mixed emotions of venturing into something new and exciting and also leaving behind familiarity. I would put it down as whimsical before "goofy".
@@MercuryHg34 i still think of Dire Dire Docks as being in Mixolydian even if it doesn’t stricly _stay_ within it, because the bVI shows up less frequently than the bVII. It opens with a classic I bVII vamp as well.
@@WhitePaintbrush That's a fair point, though I'd say because the VI chord is always a flat VI and never a natural vi chord that is normally part of the mixolydian mode. This is the awesome thing about music, the way you approach analyzing the piece can be influenced by the aspects of the tonality your brain resonated with the most.
As a traditional Scottish musician, I found your take on mixolydian quite novel and surprising. A lot of our music uses this mode thanks to the bagpipes and I wouldn’t say it really fits any of the categories or moods described in this video. As a 90s kid, I found your take on mixolydian to be immediately intuitive and relatable. Context is everything, it seems!
I agree! As a fellow piper, it's really interesting how the bagpipes use a measly 9 notes within the Mixolydian mode to convey such emotions as sadness, joy, confidence, fear, light, darkness, and just overall, power... As an example, three of my favorite pipe tunes that convey some interesting emotions are... Cabar Feidh, Haughs of Cromdale, and Bronni's Blue Brozzi. Still can't believe that we can get so much expression out of only 9 notes lol.
I always felt like the rock n roll sound was the biggest common denominator with mixie. What do you call a cross between Celtic music, the Blues, and the sound of kids having fun?
I have never heard the mixolydian mode described as goofy before! Usually people use words like mystical, bittersweet, cool, fun-loving, Celtic, bluesy, etc. (You touch on a couple of these in your video.) Interesting to hear a different take on my favorite mode. I can definitely see what you're getting at, though I would argue that it's just another facet of mixolydian, and not the main identity.
Mixolydian is *the* sound of rock & roll. It's the mode that lets you play E, A, and D major (the three "open" power chords on guitar, so the easiest to play) that plays really well with E and A minor pentatonic (having the major and minor thirds clashing is a fundamental aspect of the blues, where a lot of rock & roll comes from). The I-IV-bVII-IV vamp is to rock & roll as the I-V-IV-vi loop is to pop. "Gloria" (Them) and "What I Like About You" (The Romantics)are among some of the classics built on this foundation (basically a 12 bar blues that never goes to the bIII7).
Ok, but the fact that he switched up the instrumentation of Hyrule field to make a "Italian RomCom" rendition just to push home the point and make the joke really funny is why 8-bit is one of the best RU-vidrs on the platform. Hilarious and informative vid, gj as always :)
I think another super important thing to take note of (no pun intended) is rhythm and timbre. I noticed when you “changed” an example to being in major instead of mixo, you also changed the instrumentation from loud, dated samples (that all of those great games have, and it’s awesome of course!) to a slow, quiet piano. That has a huge effect regardless of changing the mode. The argument can also be made that major is really goofy/silly but it really just has to do with how you use it and not it’s inherent qualities. I’ve heard mixolydian sound dark and surreal, major can be bittersweet and tug at your heartstrings-but both of those modes can also just be really campy and offputting as well. Interesting how many factors combined influence our perception of these things!
I agree, Context and instrumentation matters a ton, I don’t like how some try to apply different emotions to these modes since what emotion it gives off relies HEAVILY on how it’s used. The only inherent differences are how dark or bright the mode is, but either or can sound happy, sad, wondrous or playful. To give an example for major, when you harmony and melody heavily emphasizes the dissonance between the mediant, subdominant, leading tone & tonic scale degrees you get a much more mysterious tone, almost “eerie.” To me I consider this kind of use of Ionian as emphasizing the tonality of the mode since you are using the pitches which gives the mode its character.
5:48 I like these sort of slight shifts to music in these videos as examples because if I where to make a game sound track id want to use these slight shifts to give something thats the same theme with a different vibe. Knowing that Mixolydian can go from goofy to romantic when you take it out is certainly interesting.
this is a great point, if you want to learn more about something similar i'd suggest researching variatons on a theme. its a well studied topic and there are some great youtube videos on it. works great for different vibes like you said!
Okay, that was real slick at 10:11, adding one extra repetition of that intro section so that the timing worked well with your delivery. Your editing skills are just getting better and better :)
I always associated Mixolydian with epic rock music. Besides the classic I - bVII - IV - I chords from Hey Jude or Sympathy for the Devil, Bittersweet Symphony and Nowhere Generation use the flat 7 in their melodies as well as a I - v7 - bVIIsus2 - IV (or IVsus2) chord progression that has a really open sound.
My associations with the Mixolydian mode have always been rather Medieval; and just how the Medieval period has become a "toy" for fantasy settings to play in, that goofy/playful/not-too-serious vibe can arise pretty easily (just just as easily can achieve the darker more regal vibes of said period when orchestrated as such).
You show so many great examples as to why Mixolydian is good for heroism and adventure, not goofiness! Makes sense considering how Mixolydian (and Dorian) are pretty much the go-to for adventure in film music.
I wasn't aware of the mixolydian mode being able to create this effect! I had always learned about it as creating a more dreamy feel, given the lack of tension the leading tone usually creates. The Gapra Whitewood from Final Fantasy XIII is a good example of this.
On the subject of the Root-Flat7th vamp, it really says a lot that even when you were playing just the chords just before you went into the actual retro theme, I could pretty much immediately recognize it as being the Chocobo theme.
I might be misinterpreting Mixo, but more than anything, I love it for how beautiful it can sound whenever it's going in the bittwesweet adventurous or medieval-ish areas, my favourite being Lake Of Rage from Pokemon and In Gods Country by U2 :)
The I-iv progression you talked about at the end is something I've always called the Runescape progression since an overwhelming number of their tracks use it. It's like a melancholy medieval sound, which is exactly what Runescape was going for.
Bringing those themes out of Mixolydian sounds really pretty but damn you’re right how much it just does not fit the situations in which they are supposed to be used.
Mixolydian is my favorite mode, I always think of it as the “Trigun mode” because the episode preview music is very clearly in Mixo, but frankly a lot of “spaghetti western” style music or other things meant to evoke cowboys uses it. It’s really interesting how many vibes can be evoked through Mixo. The lack of a LT makes it kind of perfect for video game music too, because it doesn’t have a final V-I cadence to signal an “end” meaning that you can very easily loop Mixo compositions without ever feeling like there’s a clear stopping point. The adventure can go on forever.
never really thought about it until you mentioned spaghetti westerns, but non-V dom7 chords code as very "American", probably because of its proliferation through blues, rock, and funk.
wow at first I was kinda like "okay but you're just using examples that make it sound silly" but as you explained and showed your reasoning behind this I was like "oh... i guess it is goofy 😳"
For years I didn't use the mixolydian scale much specifically because it was hard NOT to make it sound goofy (or like cheesy dad-rock), until I listened to some japanese jazz. For example, "Clouds" (both the Tatsuro Yamashita and Minako Yoshida versions) heavily emphasize the mixolydian sound by using the 5th as a pedal bass note with chord changes over it. Personally I find the use of the IV chord over the 5th scale degree (ex. Bmaj7/C#) to be a really beautiful, ethereal sound. Really broke me out of the "mixolydian is goofy" mindset
For me mixolydian sounds very triumph and is thus very suitable for video games. That bVII-I (or the other version in the video) is such a powerful musical step. BTW, love your videos, never stop.
Love that you touched on I-v rather than just the typical I-bVII! Adding bVI as a chromatic mediant to create bVI-bVII-I at points is also semi-common in Mixolydian tracks. I-bVII-iv is another favorite of mine that can imply Mixolydian b6 (an example being the Seaside Town theme from Super Mario RPG). The Wario Land 3 OST is nearly entirely in Mixolydian.
I also think the bVII-I sound has a certain power to it, which Hyrule Field is a great example of. It makes me think of a lot of rock/metal music from the 70s and 80s, which tended to be in minor or use a blues scale rather than a mixolydian scale, but still use that bVII-I resolution all the time
I agree, to me Hyrule Field and that Pokemon Theme have a more "heroic" quality to them. for me the classic hero/adventure theme feeling consists of the I, the bVII and finally, the bVI, which I think would perfectly fit both zelda and pokemon themes
I often associate Mixolydian with Celtic and other related folk musics, cool to see how else it's used and perceived! Would love to see you look at modes of other scales like harmonic and melodic minor too!
Loving these modal analysis videos man, they really highlight the unique identities and vibes each mode brings to the table. they really help me understand the framework of how some music is built. Keep it up!
As an appreciator of music, thank you so much for making your videos informative, but also able to be understood by those of us who may not have much, if any, music theory training.
I love this advanced editing style! The storytelling and the editing, the jokes you use in this video are fantastic! I've been subscribed for such a long time and I can sense that you feel much more comfortable now than ever. Keep it up man, cheers!
Blues itself is modal, you can flat or sharp the relevant notes in any mode to make it blues and you'll get basically that mode but with more "coolness" in its sound. Nobuo uses this trick extensively. FF7's boss theme is a chief example, as its main melody swaps back and forth between a mode and its relative blues scale, and it does this seamlessly, by weaving it into a call and response structure, such that it can be really hard to pick out where one starts and the other ends. As a rule of thumb, though, he plays the mode going up, and then resolves with a blues-y riff, but there's also points where he hovers between them ambiguously. The resulting music is perfect for a 90s Final Fantasy game: It's the perfect sound for a cast of cool characters having an epic battle.
I will make the argument that Mixolydian has a somewhat hidden "Mystical" quality to it. There is an extremely warm, colorful magic sound you can achieve by mixing the fourth scale degree into the melodies over the I7 chord. The 7sus4 chord captures this really well; the verses in Toto's 'Stop Loving You' vamp between F#7 and F#7sus4, and the result is this feeling of intense freedom and flight. Inside The Great Deku Tree from OOT also demonstrates the sort of 'spiritualism of nature' vibe evoked by Mixolydian. If you have access to a piano, hold down the sustain pedal and descend through 1-b7-5-4-3-1 scale degrees repeatedly down successive octaves to get an idea of this mystical quality.
Great examples chosen for this video. Iconic songs that traverse across multiple genres of gaming. This video was put together really well, thank you for this!
I never thought I'd get to be personally offended by an opinion on a musical mode, so thanks! This is great examination of how this mode can be used, however I have to point out that it can also be used for much more somber or even grave tunes, as the mixolydian "flat 7th" is iconic to traditional Irish Sean-nós singing! I was very excited when I saw the scale on screen as I actually recognised it from that. Great video, but unfortunately I'm patriotically obligated to say, "how dare you!"
Always loved the quick b7 for the fanfare opening to the pokemon rby end credits. Gentle touch of both adventurous and bittersweet while celebrating the completion of the elite 4.
I freaking love this video. I like the information and I really like hearing those songs played with the mode "removed" if you will. That could be a series on its own lol
I think the reason why the Mixolydian mode is my favorite mode is that it seem the most apt at straddling the line between major and minor cadences. It takes a lot less work to wring something melancholic out of the Mixolydian mode than it is for other major modes, not only with the FF6 example you brought up but another good example is Dire Dire Docks from SM64. When done right, minor Mixolydian can give off a sense of nostalgia or, perhaps, even a sense of anemoia.
Very interesting, having listened to the examples and looked at the games I would describe the quality of the I to bVII as being "forward momentum", it's letting the player know that there is an expectation of moving and exploring, in particular this is so in the Ocarina of Time example.
Interesting! The first example was definitely goofy, but overall I’ve tended to think of Mixolydian as playful and energetic rather than necessarily goofy. Particularly the bVII-I vamp, which Leonard Bernstein used as a defining example of Mixolydian by playing the “You Really Got Me” riff. Or as Signals Music Studio put it, it’s why “your Mum likes AC/DC”: you can get the bluesy/rocky/funky vibe of the flat 7th but the sing-along brightness of major.
I often think of the mixolydian mode as a "stately" mode. It is a mode that is comfortable where it's at. Whereas ionian (standard Major) is great for creating narrative tension, rising action and falling action, mixolydian is good at just chillin'. I think a lot of this is do to functional harmony. When you're on the tonic of an ionian mode, you're stable and resolved. You can leave the comfort of your home (tonic) by going to V or ii. This sets you up on a grand adventure that climaxes on the dominant V7, which resolves triumphantly back to I, -home. In this, it has a "there and back again" sensation. Mixolydian doesn't have this. It doesn't have a dominant, -it is its own dominant. It's not looking for a grand narrative structure of going out, being challenged, and returning triumphant. Mixolydian just is what it is, and is perfectly content where it's at. With this, I think there are a number of things you can do with a mixolydian scale. Because it is so stately (self-resolving, never going anywhere), it can be used for fanfares and royalty. There is no upward climb when you're king, so there is no melodic or harmonic need to raise tensions to grow and learn. But simultaneously, we often get bored when we're in one place for too long, and having nowhere to go can make us feel stuck. So mixolydian can also be used to create somber feelings of loneliness or depression. It can also be used for melancholy, as it doesn't want anything but to just be what it is. But lastly, mixolydian can be used to create a "perfect atmosphere", -and by that I mean anything from a city that nations from around the world revere, or a society that acts like they are perfect. Again, mixolydian doesn't need to go anywhere, so the "perfect atmosphere" doesn't need to improve. You should feel honored that you, o lowly peasant from a far off land, are gifted with this rare opportunity to visit our most glorious place. This, of course, could be used as a distraction to hide dark secrets, or a true state of one's genuine splendor.
Before this video, if I had to describe Mixolydian with one adjective, I'd have used "adventurous" - I think I what I thought of was that category of songs you describe in the middle with the Pokémon main theme or OoT Hyrule Field. But sure, goofy is a common feel, too, as you show, as is "medieval-y" (which I think is related to Celtic music, where Mixolydian is also common). And I never really thought about how mixolydian and blues brush up against each other. That's a really interesting idea. The modes get a lot of attention because they're packaged up together tidily as a set, but if you wanted to continue making more videos about the uses of non-mode scales like the blues scales or the pentatonic or whatever, I'd be down for that.
Here in Brazil mixolydian is a mode used in baião a tradicional music, and even the lyrics isn't happy most of the times, the music is really fun and fun, people dance to it
Excellent video, I'm really hyped for what's next! As for my personal favourite example, it is the third random dungeon theme from Pokémon Mystery Dungeon - Explorers of Sky, sorta goofy, though it does evolve into something else completely that kinda screams FF airship theme. Also I kept confusing dorian and mixolydian, no wonder why the other favourites I was thinking of felt much less goofy, though dorian does have it's part of goofiness at times.
Perhaps the best example of Mixolydian used entirely modally and also not necessarily a goofy way (more of a whimsical, floaty "what could we be building? It's all on you, player!" feel) would be Build Theme No. 1 from the original The Sims. It goes through a half-circle of 5ths of Mixo modes (E to A to D to G to C to F), and typically doing a 2 measure repeated chord progression of I - I - IV - bVII (so, for the first section, E-"maj" for a full measure, then A-maj for half and D-maj for half to solidify it as a Mixolydian piece prior to even having a melody). It's one of my favorite pieces to play on piano thanks to the syncopated Latin-sounding baselines coupled with fast mixolydian scales in the right hand that help get you in the house-building mood like an 80s or 90s home improvement channel's intermission or something on The Weather Channel (it *is* a New Age Jazz piece, tbf). Never jarring, just calm, peaceful, flowing, even as it transitions from mixo key to mixo key. Perfect background music that's there and memorable, but also not so present as to be the star of the show.
10:14 Oh wow, never noticed how minor and slightly threatening the chords of Millenia Fair sounds by itself. The melody hides and blends with it really well!
Nice video! I'm reminded of Customize It! from the Steambot Chronicles soundtrack. The b7 is used a lot there as part of an enclosure, making that sort-of-medieval sound mentioned in the Chrono Cross example.
1:18 Wow . . . When I first heard this, it immediately made me think of the "Barking Mad" music track in Runescape that plays in the Warewolf Agility Course! I wonder it's mixolydian too!
I didn't fully understand the meaning behind mixolydian mode and what the big difference is until you gave us the Pokémon and Hyrule Field themes! Nooow I get it!
Really great VG examples from my favorite mode. I was surprised by the "goofy" adjective, but you backed it up well. I personally always felt mode V was the "most normative" mode, or at least could have been - had modes originated in, say, Ireland rather than mainland Europe. For example, traditional Irish jigs and reels seem to default to mixolydian for the major key sound (and then mostly dorian for the minor key sound). There's also a case to be made that the natural 7th of the Ionian mode fits into fewer chords than the flat 7th. But of course, it's hard to pull yourself out of your musical upbringing and try to hear each of the modes without being bombarded by contextual memories.
There's a great example of mixolydian in one of the two player mode songs in Sonic 2. Whenever I hear the mode, I'm taken back to my childhood and killing time over summer playing that game.
This has been an awesome series. Having learned music theory but having a completely different career path, I never got to the point of applying these enough to recognize them in what I'm listening to. It's real cool, and it's neat to see what fun songs from my childhood were all Mixolydian lol
One of my favorite examples of Mixolydian is Metroid 2: Surface of SR388. The F to Eb (I => bVII) vamp combined with the syncopated baseline evokes the sound of adventure and fun--like you're about to explore a brand new planet! In addition, I like how the same chord progression but with different sounds evokes a different feeling. When AM2R was around, the Initial Descent theme had more of an atmospheric, peaceful sound. It was still lighthearted but not in the same way as the original. Another favorite of mine is probably Digimon World I: Gear Savanna Night--with its Bb to Ab progression and somewhat "contrapuntal?" style.
A few years back I made a march-esque piece with that exact 1 to b7 chord vamp, and I called it ‘Goofy March,’ so this video was incredibly cathartic for me in a way.
I spent most of this video thinking about how interesting it was that you find Mixolydian goofy and fun when I've always found it meloncholy, bittersweet, and at times hopeful. Then you used all those words by the end! 😆
It’s kinda fascinating how a mood of a whole piece can shift just by lowering the penultimate note in the mode. At first I’d imagine that the new whole step would cause resolutions to not have so much weight, like with the natural minor scale, but the whole step does indeed allow a piece to step up and down rather freely, being much more whimsical.
I love your videos so much! As I was listening, "Born to be Wild" came to mind, so I googled it...and sure enough, it has moments of E Myxolidian! Thank you for your incredible work.
LOL, I would have never ever gotten the idea before to describe Mixolydian as goofy, but I guess it all makes sense now. In videogames I've always found it to be an exciting adventurous type of sound with the I to bVII changes (I guess Motoi Sakuraba introduced me into that). Thank you so much for making this video. I honestly never really believed I would hear someone talk about Mixolydian without talking about rock music all the time (I mean, I guess there are similarities, but perhaps my brain is just a bit twisted). So, how about Dorian next or was it already featured on 8 bit music theory before?
mixolydian seems to give u some kinda neato magic seasoning that can amplify whatever spirit you wanna imbue. magic salt. maybe pop rocks. idfk side note, the "funk-y" in the pilotwings sounded to me as being shorthand for "goofy + bluesy"
Wow amazing timing. I'm literally writing a piece using mixolydian as the main sound and thought might be good to do some digging into it. Thanks so much this was so so helpful!
Been really enjoying these mode videos. Would love if you could do a video on ear training intervals as the songs from these games are ingrained in my life.
thank you for these mode videos. i've always thought modes were really interesting but couldn't wrap my head around why they were chosen for specific pieces, or hell how to even pick them out of a song. thanks for your service
I have to admit I've never thought of the Mixolydian mode as goofy. To me it's like major, just more... Chill. Obviously not all of the time, but if the major scale usually ranges between "happy" to "dramatic", I'd say Mixolydian ranges between relaxed to cool or confident. I think it isn't inherently more goofy then major or lydian.
I think cheeky is the best way to put it. Confident, but playful, boisterous and exuberant that's grounded in a childishness that can be boiled down to wonder or excitement! Done for sheer self indulgence!
