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Regarding this question, it was immediately closed due to the reason that it asked for song identification.

First, closing due to identification is another animal, usually where the OP is just firing nebulous clues in the wind.

I believe that this question has a lot of merit. To be able to identify a mode by way of a well-known song would help just about anyone.

Thoughts?

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Yeah, we're somewhat limited by the fact that we're limited to only a few "canned" close-reasons, so language provided by it doesn't always apply. In this case, one of the topics involved is so-called "list questions." From this answer (keep in mind, I'm just quoting, not necessarily my personal feelings):

List questions are generally just recommendations in disguise. A bad disguise. List questions generally take the form "What are some X?" or "What is a good resource for Y?"\

List questions are so-called because they result in the answers being an itemized list. Often they'll receive 10 or more one-line answers that have no explanation. If you find that useful, that's up to you. But it is certainly not useful to the community as a whole.

As with all questions, there should be clear, specific criteria for evaluating answers. Do not ask for a good resource. Ask for a resource that provides exactly what you're looking for. Better yet, as above, ask how to solve your problem! For example, don't ask the following: "Is there a website where I can learn advanced harmony?"

That will get you terrible answers -- "Yes" or a link with little explanation. Instead, you should ask:

Having learned basic harmony theory via [method], how can I learn more advanced concepts I haven't covered? Ideally I would like to learn [topic] and be able to do [something] by the end, and I'd like something I can do in my own time.

Someone might well answer that second question with a link to a website, but they will be encouraged to go further. A good answer would address your specific concerns and provide alternatives that you may not have considered.

So it's often possible to turn a "list-type" question into a valid one by changing it from "give me some Xs to help me Y" into simply "how can I Y." In your case, I think you could probably edit your question and ask for reopening, focusing on the goal rather than the tools: "I want to 'hear' the different modes intuitively and recognize them by ear without needing to analyze the scale consciously. I suspect it would help if I knew of a tune in each mode, so I could compare with them. What's the best way to gain this skill?" Note, this version also leaves open the possibility that this list of tunes isn't the best way, and instead focuses on what you want to gain from the list.

(Note: My own response to all that would be "Uh, good luck; many modes are so rare that it seems like a waste of ear-training time to be able to 'hear' them intuitively, when it takes not much longer to consciously analyze them by looking for half steps and so forth." And of course one big problem with "here's a list of reference tunes" is that it's highly personal. People often use these for hearing melodic intervals, like using the first two notes of "There's a Place for Us" from West Side Story as a mnemonic for a minor 7th. Great, but what if I've never heard West Side Story? Then it's a worthless mnemonic and now I've got one more thing to memorize. It's more worthwhile if I assemble my own list out of tunes I know well. And that makes it hard to accept any answer as a definitive one to the question. (Other problems: the "opening notes" trick might not help you recognize the same interval when it occurs in a different harmonic context.))

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  • Ok Andy. Food for thought. Thanks. Commented Jan 18 at 17:18
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    @JasonPSallinger In addition to seconding AndyBonner's post, just know that your question also would be a good one for the chat room, where open-ended discussions are welcomed.
    – Aaron
    Commented Jan 18 at 21:18
  • @Aaron, thanks! Now, is Meta the same as chat? I've never really strayed from the standard Q&A exchanges. Commented Jan 18 at 22:28
  • @JasonPSallinger Meta is specific to questions about the site itself (see What's Meta?). The Practice Room, the main chat room, is for general (music-related) discussion, and The Auditorium is for posting one's own music for user enjoyment or feedback. Chat rooms can also be created for specific topics and are sometimes created for extended discussion of specific main-site or meta posts.
    – Aaron
    Commented Jan 18 at 23:52
  • @Aaron Thanks again. I don't see links for those other two sites. Where can I find them? Commented Jan 19 at 11:03
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    @JasonPSallinger You can find both here. For my interface at least, I click on the speech-balloon-ish icon at the top right and choose "chat." (You can also get to "help" and "meta," as well as other Stack Exchange communities, via there.) Commented Jan 19 at 14:57

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