[mvanga]

Oddly, for me it was the opposite!

I used to be confused on why modes required modifying certain notes from a major scale until I tried deriving them in the way shown in the article.

Of course, once you understand that, the way you go about memorizing and practicing is probably easier the way you described; that is, deriving modes in any given key by modifying notes of the major scale using the circle of fifths.

[protoman3000]

> modes required modifying certain notes from a major scale

But why though? If you're improvising on a dominant (e.g. a G7 in the key of C Major) with a G Mixolydian scale, you're actually not playing a Mixolydian sound, but Ionian, since your tonal center is C Ionian. It is true, it is indeed a G Mixolydian scale and it is using the tonal contents of our key C Ionian. But our frame is Ionian, so what is the purpose of adding Mixolydian other than ease of construction of the scale?