Over the past few years, I wrote a collection of etudes in the mode often called “Freygish”. Those curious about music theory and unfamiliar with Freygish can read the next paragraph for the “what”. The following paragraph will explain “why” - and if you’re into none of that, the music is posted below!
The word “Freygish” is a Yiddishization of the word “Phyrgian”, and the simplest formula for Freygish is to take the Phyrgian scale and raise the third note (E Freygish = E, F, G#, A, B, C, D, E). While many Western music theorists refer to Freygish as being “the fifth mode of Harmonic Minor”, I’ve found through playing the music of the Ashkenazi Jewish tradition, as well as music from the Balkans and Middle East, that this mode is best understood as a separate entity, with it’s own peculiar leading tones, modulations and nuances that are integral to the sound. While it’s certainly related to Harmonic Minor, I do not believe it can be adequately understood as a mode of Harmonic Minor.
Coming from in a mixed-faith home, I have often been told things along the lines of “you don’t look Jewish, and your name isn’t Jewish.” Matrilineage vs. patrlineage would be the shortest answer. This contributed to a certain level of identity confusion and spiritual alienation, which had the net affect of creating a fascination with the musical side of Jewish identity. Of course, since becoming an active performer in that scene, the question became “how did you start playing that music since you’re not Jewish?”. For the record: I vividly remember hearing/singing the traditional melody to “Aveinu Malkeinu” in synagogue as a kid, and being fascinated/overwhelmed by this sound was so different than anything on the radio or that we’d sing in school.
In “Jewish Music: Its Historical Development”, Abraham Idelsohn put forward the argument that Freygish isn’t Jewis” in origin but was likely adopted only by certain segments of the Jewish population at a fairly late date. I loved the idea of being a guy who is often perceived as non-Jewish (but is!) exploring a sound that is often identified strongly as Jewish (but isn’t!)!
Hence the idea of writing a set of Freygish Études was born! It’s been a challenging and exciting process to write these pieces, and even more challenging and exciting to record them. I’ve decided to use only complete, unedited takes as part of a push-back against the constant scrubbing and micro-editing that drains modern music in so many genres of life and spontaneity. It presents a much deeper challenge, but I’m finding that embracing occasional flubs and errors is actually quite gratifying, and the practice is helping me gradually cultivate a more “present” mind-set during performance.