Keys of PR2 Songs

[Dangevin]

I always thought the terms Dorian, phrygian, etc referred to certain positions on scales instead of it being a scale/key itself

I might be wrong as well tho. I never really pay attention to what key I'm writing in

Those terms are actually used to describe modes. What you're thinking of probably are called scale degrees, which are where terms like tonic, dominant, mediant, etc. come from.

Here's an example of a mode: Bb Major scale (or Bb Ionian scale in this case) starts on the tonic note (first note) of the Bb Major scale. If you play the Bb Major scale up to C, and then restart playing the Bb Major scale, using all the accidentals of the Bb Major scale, but starting at the note C instead, you'd be playing in C Dorian (because the dorian mode starts on the 2nd note of any normal Major scale).

So... Bb Major (Ionian) scale = Bb -> C -> D -> Eb -> F -> G -> A -> Bb
Play up to C and then use the same accidentals from Bb Major
So... C Dorian scale (or starting from 2nd note of Bb Major scale) = C -> D -> Eb -> F -> G -> A -> Bb -> C


Idk if this makes sense but I tried ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ it's been a hot minute since I've tried to explain modes. Hopefully I didn't butcher it. There's easier methods of finding out mode scales which you could definitely look up because I don't remember those shortcuts.