Editing Modal frame (section)

{{about|modal frames in music|the concept in [[modal logic]]|Kripke semantics#Basic definitions}}
{{Redirect|Focus (music)|other uses|Focus (disambiguation)#Music}}

A '''modal frame''' in [[music]]<ref>{{cite book|title=Origins of the Popular Style: The Antecedents of Twentieth-Century Popular Music|last=van der Merwe|first=Peter|author-link=Peter van der Merwe (musicologist)|year=1989|publisher=Clarendon Press|location=Oxford|isbn=0-19-316121-4|pages=[https://archive.org/details/originsofpopular0000vand/page/102 102–103]|url=https://archive.org/details/originsofpopular0000vand/page/102}}</ref> is "a number of types permeating and unifying [[Music of Africa|African]], [[Music of Europe|European]], and [[Music of the United States|American]] [[song]]" and [[melody]].<ref name="Middleton">{{harvnb|van der Merwe|1989}}, quoted in Richard Middleton (1990/2002). ''Studying Popular Music'', p. 203. Philadelphia: Open University Press. {{ISBN|0-335-15275-9}}.</ref> It may also be called a '''melodic mode.''' "Mode" and "frame" are used interchangeably in this context without reference to scalar or rhythmic modes. Melodic modes define and generate melodies that are not determined by [[harmony]], but purely by [[melody]]. A '''note frame,''' is a melodic mode that is [[Atonality|atonic]] (without a [[tonic (music)|tonic]]), or has an unstable tonic.

Modal frames may be defined by their:

*'''floor note''': the bottom of the frame, felt to be the lowest note, though isolated notes may go lower,
*'''ceiling note''': the top of the frame,
*'''central note''': the center around which other notes cluster or gravitate,
*'''upper''' or '''lower focus''':<ref>adapted from Ekueme, Lazarus. cited in Middleton (1990), p. 203.</ref> portion of the mode on which the melody temporarily dwells, and can also defined by melody types, such as:
**'''[[chant]] tunes''': ([[Bob Dylan]]'s "[[Subterranean Homesick Blues]]")<ref name="Middleton"/>
**'''axial tunes''': ("A Hard Day's Night", "[[Peggy Sue (song)|Peggy Sue]]", [[Marvin Gaye]]'s "[[Can I Get a Witness|Can I Get A Witness]]", and [[Roy Milton]]'s "[[The Hucklebuck|Do the Hucklebuck]]")<ref name="Middleton"/>
**'''oscillating''': ([[Rolling Stones]]' "[[Jumpin' Jack Flash]]")<ref name="Middleton"/>
**'''open/closed''': ([[Bo Diddley]]'s "[[Hey Bo Diddley]]")<ref name="Middleton"/>
**'''[[melodic motion|terrace]]'''
**'''[[#Shout-and-fall|shout-and-fall]]'''
**'''[[#Ladder of thirds|ladder of thirds]]'''

<score sound=1>\relative c'' { \repeat volta 1 {  \time 2/2  \tempo 2 = 60 \set Score.tempoHideNote = ##t c2 a ^"↓" c a ^"↓"} } \addlyrics { Chel -- sea Chel -- sea } </score>
"Chel-sea" football crowd [[chant]]: minor third.

Further defined features include:
*'''melodic dissonance''': the quality of a note that is modally unstable and attracted to other more important tones in a non-harmonic way
*'''melodic triad'''{{anchor|Melodic triad}}: arpeggiated triads in a melody. A '''non-harmonic arpeggio''' is most commonly a melodic triad, it is an [[arpeggio]] the [[note (music)|notes]] of which do not appear in the [[harmony]] of the [[accompaniment]].{{sfn|van der Merwe|1989|p=321}}
*[[level (music)|level]]: a temporary modal frame contrasted with another built on a different [[foundation note]]. A change in levels is called a [[level (music)|shift]].
*'''co-tonic''': a melodic tonic different from and as important as the harmonic tonic
*'''secondary tonic''': a melodic tonic different from but subordinate to the harmonic tonic
*'''pendular third''':<ref>adapted from Nketia, J. H. cited in Middleton (1990), p. 203.</ref> alternating notes a third apart, most often a [[neutral third|neutral]], see [[double tonic]]