A diatonic scale has seven pitches (plus the octave.) A scale can treat any one of these pitches as the tonic, creating a mode. Since there are seven notes, each scale has seven modes. The different interval patterns gives each scale a unique quality.
Each mode has a Greek name that dates back to antiquity. The first six modes were used in Gregorian Chant and other Christian liturgical music and are therefore called the ecclesial modes.
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The Ionian mode is identical with a major scale.
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Mode II, called the Dorian mode, begins like a minor scale, but has a major sixth. It is often used when composers want something to sound artificially medieval. Some famous songs in the Dorian mode include Scarborough Fair, Eleanor Rigby, and the theme from Halo.
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Mode III, Phrygian, is unusual in that it begins with a semitone. This makes it somewhat similar to the harmonic scale commonly used in Arabic and other Middle Eastern music. Its quality comes across as somewhat mystical and mysterious.
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Beginning with three whole tones, the Lydian mode (Mode IV) is light and playful with a dash of the unexpected. The medieval troubador song Robins m'aime is in the Lydian mode; a more modern example would be the theme from Back to the Future.
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Mode V, the Mixolydian mode, is like a major scale with a minor seven. It creates a bold and adventurous mood and as such can be heard in many soundtracks, such as the Legend of Zelda and Star Trek.
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The Aeolian mode is also known as the natural minor scale. Its tone is solemn and grave, sometimes sad. Medieval examples include Greensleeves and the Advent hymn O Come, O Come, Emmanuel.
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Mode VII, the Locrian mode, is the one diatonic mode that was not considered one of the "ecclesial" modes; i.e., it was not used in Christian liturgical music. This is due to the fact that in a Locrian scale, the interval from the tonic to the dominant is not a 2:3 ratio fifth, but rather a highly dissonant tritone (three whole tones.)
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