Originally Posted by: light487

Looking at the C Major scale for an example:
C D E F G A B
1 2 3 4 5 6 7

I'll just extend it to two octaves to help with the above explanation:
C D E F G A B C D E F G A B
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14

Ionian
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
C D E F G A B

Dorian
2 3 4 5 6 7 8
D E F G A B C

Phrygian
3 4 5 6 7 8 9
E F G A B C D

And so on...


I think this is pretty misleading.

This:
Phrygian
3 4 5 6 7 8 9
E F G A B C D

Should be this:
Phrygian
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
E F G A B C D

In E Phrygian, the root note is "E." Therefore, "E" should be designated as one. E Phrygian does not exist as some redundant extension of C Ionian. E Phrygian is an entity unto itself, with its own root note and its own unique octave.