Unleash Your Creativity: Crafting Original Music with Modal and Minor Borrowing
If you’re a seasoned musician or just starting out, understanding how to incorporate modal and minor mixture into your compositions can add depth and intrigue to your music. We’ll explore how to create original chord progressions using modal and minor borrowing techniques, empowering you to create music that is uniquely yours.
Get a PDF of the piano chords and staff notation for each chord
Understanding Modal and Minor Borrowing:
Before diving into crafting chord progressions, let’s take an opportunity to do a quick brain balance for fun. Hold your thumb in front of your eyes. Move your hand in a figure 8 pattern. Look at your thumb as it goes, moving your eyes thru the figure 8 pattern.
Understand the concept of modal and minor borrowing.
Modal borrowing involves borrowing chords or notes from a parallel mode of the current key. For example, if you’re in the key of D major, you can borrow chords from D Dorian or D minor to introduce new tonal colors into your music.
Crafting Chord Progressions:
To begin crafting your chord progression, Use D major chord as a starting point. You can actually start wherever you want. I’m using D in this example. Now, let’s spice things up by borrowing chords from D Dorian and D minor.
D – F – D – F – Bb – C – Am – D
- Borrowing from D Dorian:
In D Dorian, we get the F major chord. Let’s stick it in right after the D major. Actually sound kinda cool, so let’s repeat that section. - So now we got D major, F major, D major, F major. From here forward if it’s a major chord, we’ll just use the letter name and leave off the word “major”
Here is the dial with the ii (orange) pointed at D. That gives us the chords from D Dorian to borrow from.
Now let’s grab a chord from D minor. D minor offers additional options for borrowing chords. I’m going to turn the dial on the circle of infinite imagination and grab a Bb chord. I’m also gonna pick up an Am and C while I’m in D minor mode. Music snobs would call D minor the Aeolian mode, It’s the same set of notes and chords. Just 2 different names for the same thing.
D minor mode
And then Back to our home key D major and now we have this chord progression:
D – F – D – F – Bb – C – Am – D
Now we’ll stay in the key of D for a bit and add in D and G a couple times. and then throw in an Em7
D – F – D – F – Bb – C – Am – D
D – G – D – G – Em7 –
Now back to D Dorian to grab a few more chords. this time an FM7, G7, and then wrap it up by Going back to the home key for one more D major.
D – F – D – F – Bb – C – Am – D
D – G – D – G – Em7 – FM7 – G7 – D
Notice how the Em7, FM7, and G7 chords introduce a different tonal flavor while still maintaining the overall feel of the progression.
By borrowing chords from D minor and Dorian, we add a more more flavor and a unique quality to the progression.
Get a PDF of the piano chords and staff notation for each chord
Experimentation and Exploration:
Creating original music is all about experimentation and exploration. Don’t be afraid to try different chord substitutions or variations to find the sound that resonates with you. Here are a few tips to keep in mind:
- Listen actively to music that incorporates modal and minor borrowing to gain inspiration and insight.
- Experiment with different chord voicings and inversions to create unique textures and harmonies.
- Trust your ear. Ultimately, the best chord progressions are the ones that sound right to you.
Remember, there are no rules in creativity—only endless possibilities.
I would love to hear your musical creations. Please leave comments, questions and links to your music below.
Happy music making!
