The DORIAN Mode Feels MYSTERIOUS (among other things)

The Dorian Mode is the most versatile of the 7 major modes, but 'versatile' doesn't seem like a very click-bait-y word to put in the title. From mysterious to heroic to funky the Dorian mode sees a lot of play in a wide variety of musical contexts, and in this video I explore how the different ways of handling the characteristic raised 6th note contribute to each of these various effects.

0:00 - What's the Dorian Mode?
0:39 - Midna's Lament - The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
2:00 - Dirtmouth Theme - Hollow Knight
2:58 - Cyan's Theme - Final Fantasy VI
4:17 - Battle Theme 1 - Chrono Trigger
5:05 - Olberic's Theme - Octopath Traveller
6:33 - Never Forget - Halo 3
8:25 - Dark World Theme - The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
10:26 - Halo Theme - Halo
11:30 - The Dorian Mode is FUNKY
13:11 - Stage 4 - Kirby's Block Ball
13:49 - Song of Storms - The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
14:33 - Outro

#Dorian #gamemusic #8bitMusicTheory

[Cyred_Akaao]

Fun fact about Dorian: it is the only mode in the 7 major scale based modes that remains as itself when you invert every note against the tonic. This means that if you perform a melodic inversion on a melody in Dorian, all the notes diatonic to Dorian will remain diatonic to Dorian, and all the nondiatonic notes exhibit similar behavior. It's such a cool property of the scale that sets it apart from the rest! Other scales outside of the Major scale based modes with similar behavior include the Chromatic, Whole Tone, Double Harmonic, and Neapolitan Major scales, among others.

[MusicJokeHere]

Aha! My name is Dorian and I went to college for music because that’s what you get when you name your daughter Dorian. Anyway I have been waiting for this episode and my assigned adjective!

[lets_talk]

I’ll never forget learning song of storms on piano, getting extremely confused on why the chords didn’t fit into a major or minor scale, and then discovering how modes worked.

[singsongdan]

Ocarinas combo of mixolydian and dorian to soundtrack youthful optimism turning to subtle dread is 👌

[HGmolotov]

fun fact: we had a cat called dorian!

granted, he wasnt named after the scale, but during the short time that i had guitar lessons he would just sit and watch us, and my tutor found the name amusing

[ZTimeGamingYT]

When both Joker and Link are in a musical thumbnail, you know you're in for a cool yet mysterious analysis.

[CpLKaNeZA]

Never Forget is by far my favorite of all the compositions in the Halo universe, I remember just sitting on the menu screen for hours, listening. So beautiful.

[ilaytsa]

Dorian mode is soooo fun. It has the kind of darkness of minor but the coolness of mixolydian ahhh i love it

[BrandonMcSpaceFace]

I somehow had forgotten how beautiful Midna's Lament is.

[OhNoTheFace]

Midna's Lament still gets me, man. It's so desperate, at a time where you do feel there is no chance she will be ok.

Thank you for the insight

[hawks]

Halo's Never forget never fails to make me tear up. It has always been one of my favorite peices of music. and the emotional charge it gives me is great.

[TheRealRidley]

One thing's for sure, Twilight Princess has some really emotional music.

[somebonehead]

Waluigi Pinball is my favorite Dorian mode tune. It's so upbeat and jovial, but with that melancholic touch of Dorian that you describe.

[vgmkas]

Dorian is my favorite mode, and you showed some great ways to use it!
I also love the i-ii for funk vibes (Sensei's theme from Advance Wars does this).
Some other random examples of Dorian:
Forest Maze (SMRPG)
Devils Lab, Shadows Theme, Figaro Castle (FFVI)
Victors Hollow (Octopath)
Home Sweet Home (FFV)

[DuskWolf]

I really enjoyed the video! The Dark World theme from Alttp and Midna's Lament from TP are some of my personnal favorite themes in video game history, so it's fun to get a glimpse into how they use the dorian mode differently!

[pAWNproductionsDE]

I've been waiting for this episode! Dorian is easily my favorite mode. Not to mention, if you combine Dorian with notes from the b5 and #7 from the blues scale, you get the coolest melody scale on the planet (look up "Virtua Cop - Gang Headquarters" for an example)

[owlyus]

I always think of Dorian as the Dark Side of the Moon mode. That's awesome that it's so versatile!

[schmidtyyy]

Hearing Marshmallow Castle for the first time in a while was like unlocking a core memory. Wow.

[AlexPies]

man, i was HOPING you'd cover Dirtmouth. that's my personal favorite use of Dorian. i'd say i'm biased, as that's my favorite game of all time, but i noticed it even on my first playthrough. as the first area that you visit with music in it, it paints a nice desolate yet curious picture. you might say.. a picture of Dorian, but gray.

[musico]

Perfect timing! I was literally thinking about the Dorian scale cause of my jazz class!