What’s on the Dorian poster
A definition and 6 facts worth remembering.
The second mode of the major scale: a natural minor with the sixth degree raised a semitone. That one note is the entire character.
- Formula: 1 2 ♭3 4 5 6 ♭7.
- D Dorian is the white keys from D.
- It is C major's notes with D as home.
- The raised 6th makes the iv chord major, not minor.
- Chord pair to prove it: Dm to G major.
- Minor, but not sad — brighter than natural minor.
- Degree — 2nd
- Raised — the 6th
- Chords — i – IV
- Scarborough Fair, So What, and most of what people call a 'Celtic' minor.
If a minor tune has a major IV chord, it is almost certainly Dorian.
Questions about the Dorian poster
- What’s on the Dorian poster?
- A definition and 6 facts worth remembering. The second mode of the major scale: a natural minor with the sixth degree raised a semitone. That one note is the entire character. Formula: 1 2 ♭3 4 5 6 ♭7.; D Dorian is the white keys from D.; It is C major's notes with D as home.; The raised 6th makes the iv chord major, not minor.; Chord pair to prove it: Dm to G major.; Minor, but not sad — brighter than natural minor.; Degree — 2nd; Raised — the 6th; Chords — i – IV; Scarborough Fair, So What, and most of what people call a 'Celtic' minor.. If a minor tune has a major IV chord, it is almost certainly Dorian.
- Who is the Dorian poster for?
- Dorian belongs to the Music section rather than to a school year, because music is not something one grade owns. Anyone learning scales & modes can pin it up — a beginner, a student mid-course, or someone revising years later.
- When should you use the Dorian poster?
- Play a minor scale and raise the sixth. Everything else stays. A wall chart earns its place by being glanceable from where the work is happening, so Dorian belongs on the wall where that music work actually happens, within glancing distance, rather than filed away.
- What other posters go with Dorian?
- The Blues Scale, Chromatic & Whole Tone and The Harmonic Minor sit alongside Dorian in the Music section. Printed together they make a wall rather than a single sheet, which is how a reference set actually gets used.The Blues ScaleChromatic & Whole ToneThe Harmonic Minor
- Is the Dorian poster free to download and print?
- Yes. Dorian downloads as a free PDF with no account, no email and no watermark, like everything else in the Music section. Print as many copies as you like for a home, a classroom, a library or a tutoring group; reselling the file is the only thing the licence rules out.Read the licence
- What size does the Dorian poster print at?
- Dorian is a vector PDF laid out for US Letter, and prints on A4 with Fit to page — the same file, no separate download. Because every mark on it is drawn rather than photographed, it stays sharp enlarged to A3, A2 or A1 at a copy shop. Colour carries emphasis only, so a greyscale print of Dorian loses nothing.Printing guide
Related posters
Charts that sit alongside Dorian on the same wall.
Browse every Music poster, or start from the full catalogue.