La Clave del Intercambio Modal

Modal interchange is a resource that, in modern harmony, prepares us for extended tonality, which is commonplace in jazz practice, both in composition and improvisation. Learning the harmonic resources and ways of viewing harmony found in different musical styles doesn't tie us to that style; rather, it provides us with resources—we simply acquire harmonic vocabulary. For several centuries, we operated within a bimodal paradigm where major and minor keys constituted our entire harmonic language. Therefore, the first basic interchange we learn occurs within that harmonic context. Of course, there are more possibilities for modal interchange outside of this bimodal context that has prevailed for centuries; By maintaining a single center, we can have at our disposal modes from other scales, such as the melodic minor scale, the harmonic minor scale, the double harmonic scale, the harmonic major scale, and many more. The 20th century brought us jazz, and with it came a system where the scale-chord relationship gained importance. As a logical extension of this, modes regained the importance they had held before the Baroque period. Modal gestures take on special significance, and this is where the key to modal interchange lies. The melodic gestures of the mode can appear at different points without altering the scale-chord relationship or losing the tonal center, thanks to modal interchange. This is the perspective we will explore in this video on modal interchange.