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5.5.9 Modal Scales and Modal Chords
You might consider modal music as a kind of tonal music, but only in a decidedly restricted sense. Each of the modes has a tonic note and a scale based on small integer frequency ratios.
But ...
- In modal scales, for reasons discussed earlier, the true sense of a tonal centre doesn’t materialize;
- True modal chords and chord progressions are seriously problematic. This is explored towards the end of Chapter 6.
Nevertheless, modal scales can be put to good use in Western tonal music, as you’ll see in later chapters.