MODAL – the restricted GAMUT of Eight Whiskus, composed originally for voice and using a MESOSTIC technique to center the line around a single pitch, recalls a type of scale used in folk music which, while harmonically simple, avoids expressive chromaticism and the directional pull of tonality, both foreign to Cage's mature vocabulary.  Many of Cage's earlier compositions (such as Six Melodies) also have a somewhat modal feel due to the careful selection of pitches to be used in the gamut.  The modal flavor of One^lO comes from the exclusive use of natural harmonics of the violin's four strings, tuned traditionally in fifths.  The even earlier Nocturne, however, still lives in the harmonically more complex world of impressionistic chromaticism.