I like Phrygian and Aeolian, mainly because they are easy to remember on guitar, if C Major was the first scale you learned.
Dev –
Lydian is not heard often? It’s not such a rare scale at all. The theme to the Simpsons is basically Lydian. The song “Maniac” (Just a small town girl on a Saturday night) is Lydian on the verse. The “small town girl” notes are all the augmented fourth played over a C major chord. If you let me think about it, I can come up with much more. Lydian, in fact, is a very natural sounding mode and most musicians will describe it as the “happiest” mode, with the major (ionian) following next. It certainly is a very bright sounding mode, and it has the advantage of being relatively simple to improvise in, because the augmented fourth sidesteps a lot of complicated harmonic issues you’d be dealing with if you had your simple perfect fourth.
As far as the Locrian question, I have never heard of music being composed in the Locrian mode. It would be my guess that it is synthetic. My only acquaintance with it is in jazz music, where you can briefly use it to solo over something like a Bm7 flat5 flat9. I’m sure somebody’s tried to be adventurous out there.
Also, Indian scales have 6 distinctions of pitch between each Western whole step (or maybe it was half step. Don’t quote me on this.) I think everyone is certainly capable of hearing the difference, but we might not register it because our ears aren’t used to hearing these as different notes. I think our ears have a way of “rounding off” pitches which is why some people will not notice a quartet playing out of tune, while others more sensitive will think it’s blatantly out of tune.
Ugh. Maniac. I find that only a step above “My baby takes the morning train” in terms of horrible music. But to each his own. I’d probably think of that in terms of G major to what I remember as the tune’s tonic, G. I beleive I’d yield the point, though, rather than having to listen to that song again. I’m still having trouble thinking of a tune who’s true key is in the Lydian mode. If you have more examples, I’d be happy to hear them.
The Simpson’s theme is great, IMO, remeniscent of Carl W. Stalling’s brilliant cartoon arrangements. I’ve not seen the sheet music, and it’s a little complicated to work out in my head.
Oh, I certainly think “Maniac” is a crap song, too. Is G the tonic? I can’t remember. I just recall that first chord being a C and an f# being sung over it.
I’ve never seen the music to the Simpsons, but the melody line starts: C-E-F#-A-G … (Don’t remember for sure if it’s C, but you can transpose as you wish.)
It’s not totally 100% pure lydian, as there’s a dominant 7th thrown in instead of a major 7th. But for all practical purposes I consider scales with a major third and a raised fourth Lydian. (excepting the whole-tone scale)