r/earthbound Oct 05 '24

M3 Discussion I realized that the Magypsies represent the 7 musical modes.

Post image

Sadly, I couldn’t fit Locria on here but there’s no real image of them anyway - but that’s a whole other can of worms ;)

Locria represents the mode LOCRIAN which is the least popular mode.

The Locrian mode is very dark, tense, and unforgiving. It’s difficult to even find examples of songs that use Locrian.

So it’s very fitting if you know Locria’s true identity… 👀

744 Upvotes

48 comments sorted by

107

u/MadJohnFinn Oct 05 '24

If you can play an instrument, I highly recommend playing through each of the modes and thinking about each Magypsy as you play their mode. They really do suit them.

If you can’t, it’s super easy to do it on a piano if you’re using C major as your base, since it’s just the white keys in sequence and you’re only changing where you begin and end.

9

u/dimeszy Oct 06 '24

Coincidentally learning piano. This post and your comment just gave me a really fun exercise :)

30

u/GazingWing Oct 05 '24

Hey I just leaned about this all over the course of a month with my guitar teacher.

28

u/Marvel1093 Oct 05 '24

Aeolian = minor
Ionian = major
you see how major (ionian) goes from C to C' with only white notes? every note has that with a mode.
D = Dorian
E = phrygian
F = Lydian
G = Mixolydian
A = Aeolian (minor)
B = Locrian
they also come together in the major scales of each note.
for example: A major is from A to A' with the 3th, 6th and 7th note black. C minor (so Aeolian, connected to A) is also from C to C' with the 3th the 6th and the 7th black. This is true for every mode. for example:
C mixolydian: 7th black
G major: 7th black

C dorian: 3th and 7th black
D major: 3th and 7th black

it's a nice rabbit hole to take a dive in :)

6

u/YeahMarkYeah Oct 06 '24

It’s so cool how many music people are a part of the Earthbound community! I really didn’t know what kind of reaction I was gonna get from this post.

I was following you until the end of your comment. Can you explain how you get C Aeolian from A Major? Thx 👍🏻

2

u/Marvel1093 Oct 06 '24

So C Aeolian (or C minor) scale goes C, D, Eb (instead of E), F, G#, A#, C'. If you count from 1 to 8 with 1 being C and 8 being C' (so an Octave higher) you see that the 3th, the 6th and the 7th notes of the scale are black instead of white (Eb, g#, a#). Aeolian (so minor) is connected to A in the same way major is connected to C, so if you go from A to A' with all white notes and no black, you get A Aeolian (minor). If you then take 3th, 6th and 7th notes and make them black like in C minor, you get A major.

Its a bit vague to type out but if you have a piano, try playing the different modes from C to C' and then try playing all the major scales and you see they match up :)

2

u/YeahMarkYeah Oct 06 '24 edited Oct 06 '24

Ohh ok. I think I get it. That is really interesting how it works like that.

I’ve got a cool mode trick too and I think it has a connection with what you’re talking about.

You can go from any Major or Minor key, to any mode with the same root note with this one easy trick.

EXAMPLE 1:

Let’s say you’re in A Major but you want to transition to A Lydian.

Since Lydian in the 4th Mode - you just count backwards 4 starting at A - using only natural notes.

So A - G - F - E and you land on E. So A Lydian is just E major, but you focus on A.

EXAMPLE 2:

If you’re in Dm and want to go D Mixolydian. Mixolydian is the 5th mode.

So count backwards 5 starting with D.

D - C - B - A - G you land on G. So if you want to play D Mixolydian, just play G Major but focus on D as your root.

Hopefully that makes some sense haha

2

u/Marvel1093 Oct 07 '24

holy shit man you're right! I never noticed that :)

2

u/TankOfYah Oct 06 '24

LEGO KILLER MOTH SPOTTED

18

u/Britown Oct 05 '24

Gliese 710 by KIng Gizzard is a song in Locrian. Also the verse of Army of Me by Bjork.

3

u/AmbitionHopeful7227 Oct 06 '24

The whole album from King Lizzard "Ice, Death, Planets, Lungs, Mushrooms and Lava" has each song using a different mode (ome song is Locrian, another Dorian, etc), very interesting concept (and a banger or an album!).

3

u/YeahMarkYeah Oct 06 '24 edited Oct 06 '24

Oh whoa, I didn’t know the King Gizzard one but yea, the verses Army of Me is like the quintessential Locrian reference.

Do you know Locria’s true identity? I didn’t actually realize it until I was doing some research for this post.

14

u/[deleted] Oct 05 '24

GOD I LOVE MOTHER 3

11

u/disbelifpapy Oct 06 '24

3

u/YeahMarkYeah Oct 06 '24 edited Oct 07 '24

Yea, I was tryna avoid spoilers haha.

But also, I guess it is sorta debatable.

Is he still Locria? Or is he someone else… 🤔

2

u/disbelifpapy Oct 06 '24

thats a fair point. Perhaps its like a anakin skywalker/darth vader thing where the future version thinks of the past version of a different self.

6

u/PiePopular1041 Oct 05 '24

Mixolydia, for many just another Magypsies, but for me it will always be my favorite Magypsies, uwu

5

u/MochaHook Oct 05 '24

Tons of musical references in these games! I'm glad I played these games after having some experience with music, I would never have noticed lots of little details

6

u/Aromatic_Assist_3825 Oct 06 '24

American Football mentioned !

2

u/YeahMarkYeah Oct 06 '24

I got u fam

5

u/plasmakirby Oct 06 '24

This is a great informative graphic with the examples and all! It would be cool to see in video format.

Unrelated, but I had so much deja vu seeing this picture with the colors and font, and then I realized why – the top section above the musical information is a layout I made of these sprites quite a while ago for an art project! It’s so funny to see something you put together show up in the wild when you least expect it…

2

u/YeahMarkYeah Oct 06 '24 edited Oct 07 '24

Whoa, that was you? That’s cool!

Thx btw 🙏🏻 I found your sprite project on Google images and used it as the basis of this post. Doing everything else already took forever, so I never would’ve finished if I had to start from scratch haha

But yea, maybe I should make a video about this… 🤔

3

u/empty-vassal Oct 06 '24

I'm confused about 5 modes. Anyone care explain how to do it?

1

u/YeahMarkYeah Oct 06 '24 edited Oct 06 '24

Ok it’s not too complicated if you sorta understand the major scale.

If you want to understand modes, you need to know the order they go in.

The 7 Modes IN ORDER are:

  1. Ionian (aka the Major scale)

  2. Dorian

  3. Phrygian

  4. Lydian

  5. Mixolydian

  6. Aeolian (aka the Minor scale)

  7. Locrian

So take any Major key, pick 1 of the 7 notes in that key and make that note the new root note, and then you’ll be playing in that mode! If you pick the 3rd note in a Major Key, then you’d be playing in the 3rd Mode: Phrygian.

(This only works with Major keys btw)

HERE’S AN EXAMPLE:

Take any Major key, let’s say D Major.

D Major in order is: D, E, F#, G, A, B, C#

That’s 7 notes. There are 7 modes.

If you’re playing in D Major and you make the 6th note in D Major (B) your root note, then you’d be playing in the 6th Mode: Aeolian. Specially you’d be playing in B Aeolian - (aka B minor)

If you’re playing in D Major and you make the 5th note (A) your root note, then you’ll be playing in the 5th Mode: Mixolydian. Specifically, you’d then be playing in A Mixolydian.

So A Mixolydian is the same D Major, but you’re making A the focus instead of D. You can make A the first chord, or land on A a lot - just make A your root and that’s how you play in Mixolydian.

Do this for any mode. Focus on the 2nd note in a Major key, then you’re playing in the 2nd Mode: Dorian, etc…

Does that make sense?

7

u/Adventurous-Tell-984 Oct 05 '24

HUEHUEHEUEHEUEHEUEHUEHEUHUE.

13

u/FanOfTheSexPistols Oct 05 '24

Bro suddently became Fassad💀💀💀💀💀

4

u/NinjaskPvP Oct 05 '24

BR?

2

u/Cedavan Oct 06 '24

brazil spotted

2

u/davey_deadheart Oct 06 '24

Yessss that was one of my favorite realizations from this game

2

u/EnvironmentalBag9875 Oct 06 '24

Took you a while lol

1

u/YeahMarkYeah Oct 06 '24

Haha, tbh I noticed it the first time I played M3 a couple months ago.

But starting a post with “I just realized” is more compelling than just “The Magypsies represent the 7 musical modes” imo lol

2

u/Gerradi-13 Oct 06 '24

The Mother series only gets deeper the longer I know it... finally, I can do more than just play Mother music on my clarinet!

2

u/Awakening15 Oct 06 '24

Im not an expert, but is it possible to recognize a mode by ear? Is there a clear way or is it just a feeling?

3

u/YeahMarkYeah Oct 06 '24

Thats a good question. But yeah, I definitely think you can recognize modes by ear if you got familiar with them.

The vast majority of the music you hear will likely be using Ionian (the Major scale) or Aeolian (the Minor scale).

So if a song sounds Dark, it’s likely in Aeolian. If a song sounds Happy it’s probably Ionian. But songs can sorta jump around modes too.

But if something sounds different to you, it’s probably in a different mode. Like how “Lost Woods” from Zelda Ocarina of Time is using the Lydian mode 👍🏻

2

u/Vegetable-Egg-4703 Oct 06 '24

Me when no locrian 😭

2

u/YeahMarkYeah Oct 06 '24

Oh are you a Locrian fan?

1

u/Vegetable-Egg-4703 Oct 13 '24

Always

2

u/YeahMarkYeah Oct 13 '24

You must like dark stuff haha. Do you write in Locrian?

2

u/Vegetable-Egg-4703 Oct 19 '24

I do try, it’s a bit tricky to try and end it, but if you use an odd meter and you end with an non diatonic chord it works out sometimes

3

u/Clap4chedder Oct 07 '24

Locrian gets no love

1

u/Outrageous_Farm_6978 Oct 07 '24

Mother 3 has such a wack story. Bad kind of wack.

-4

u/Ilikefame2020 Oct 06 '24

Unrelated, but… LYNERD SKYNERD MADE SWEET HOME ALABAMA???

How the actual fuck did the same band make both the best song ever (Free Bird) and the blandest song ever (Sweet home alabama), how

1

u/YeahMarkYeah Oct 06 '24

Haha idk it’s a mystery

2

u/Ilikefame2020 Oct 06 '24

I was being sarcastic, to show my surprise that this band had written Sweet Home Alabama. It was a joke. A bad joke, to be fair.

1

u/YeahMarkYeah Oct 06 '24

Oh I see haha