What Good Are Modes? Pedagogical application and practical proposals for Music Education

This article presents the results of a teaching experience carried out in the compulsory subject 613, Music Theory II, included in the range of subjects in the Music Education Diploma at the Universitat Jaume I in Castellón, Spain, during the academic years 2007/2008 and 2008/2009. At the time of developing my docent project, I wondered to what extent should we present the aspects related to modality and if those contents would be able to be applied by future teachers of music. The pedagogical implementation of the modes and its methodology were the most interesting things for me. Most students showed a special interest in the immediate use and implementation of the contents they were learning, but also in their feasibility and validity, right after teacher’s exposition of theoretical concepts. Therefore the questions that concerned students most were the following: What are modes used for? How can I apply them? How can I use them in the classroom? What kind of activities am I going to do?\ud In this article, I present the concept and definition of the term mode, my synthesis-evaluation and its typology and classification. After that, I create methodological strategies for its learning and I set out different activities around exploration, experimentation, awareness raising, interpretation, composition and musical improvisation that serve as a practical proposal of immediate application in the classroom