The Lydian mode corresponds to the white keys from F to F. It is major, but its fourth degree is raised, so the usual pull of the subdominant disappears and a sense of soaring, boundlessness, and bright wonder emerges. It is the brightest and most airy of the major modes.
Film composers (from classic Hollywood to modern soundtracks) adore the Lydian mode for its “starry,” exalted sound. The raised fourth degree links the Lydian mode to the Ukrainian Hutsul mode: in Carpathian folk music this sharp, “high” fourth rings out in the playing of the trembita and the fiddle, giving melodies their unmistakable mountain colour. The Lydian mode is the sound of light, height, and fantasy.
