{"id":116710,"date":"2025-08-12T14:08:42","date_gmt":"2025-08-12T18:08:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/?p=116710"},"modified":"2025-08-12T14:40:08","modified_gmt":"2025-08-12T18:40:08","slug":"preview-labyrinth-ontario-presents-modal-music-parks-august-16-23","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/2025\/08\/12\/preview-labyrinth-ontario-presents-modal-music-parks-august-16-23\/","title":{"rendered":"PREVIEW | Labyrinth Ontario Presents Modal Music In The Park August 16 & 23"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Musician Ori Shalva performing at Modal Music in the Parks 2020 (Photo: Magda Arturo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Labyrinth Ontario presents its Modal Music in the Parks series, including four outdoor concerts in RV Burgess Park. The concert series is sponsored by supported by Toronto Arts Foundation\u2019s Arts in the Parks, Toronto Arts Council, Toronto\u2019s Parks, Forestry and Recreations, and the Toronto Yunus Emre Institute.<\/p>\n

The concerts showcases Iranian, Turkish, Arabic, and Macedonian music, and their intersections.<\/p>\n

What is modal music?<\/h3>\n

Modal music is part of the history of Western music, and precedes the tonal music era. However, it’s not only part of history; it’s been a source of inspiration for many contemporary composers of the 20th and 21st centuries.<\/p>\n

It’s also the primary system of music composition and performance used in many non-Western music genres for centuries, including classical Indian, Persian, Asian, and Middle Eastern music, and many musical genres found on the African continent.<\/p>\n

To explain it in terms of Western music theory, tonal music uses either a major or minor scale. Composition is largely based on harmony.<\/p>\n

In modal music, melody takes precedence over harmony. Rather than being fixed in a minor or major scale, the music was based on a mode, which can resemble a scale, but can also incorporate phrases or patterns. Modes are associated with different moods.<\/p>\n

Modal music from medieval Europe often feature what are called diatonic modes (which can be played on the white keys of a piano, for example), but non-Western modal music can use different tuning from one mode to another, and specific ornamentation or phrases.<\/p>\n

Labyrinth Ontario is part of a global project to celebrate model music traditions in the modern world.<\/p>\n