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{{Short description|Musical mode}}
The '''Locrian mode''' is the seventh mode of the major scale. It is either a [[Mode (music)|musical mode]] or simply a [[diatonic scale]]. On the piano, it is the scale that starts with B and only uses the white keys from there on up to the next higher B. Its ascending form consists of the key note, then: Half step, whole step, whole step, half step, whole step, whole step, whole step.

:<score sound=1 lang="lilypond"> {
\key c \locrian
\override Score.TimeSignature #'stencil = ##f
\relative c' { 
  \clef treble \time 7/4
  c4^\markup { C Locrian mode } des es f ges aes bes c2

} }
</score>

==History==
''[[Locrians|Locria]]n'' is the word used to describe an ancient Greek tribe that inhabited the three regions of [[Locris]].<ref>{{OED|Locrian}}</ref> Although the term occurs in several classical authors on music theory, including [[Cleonides]] (as an octave species) and [[Athenaeus]] (as an obsolete ''[[harmonia]]''), there is no warrant for the modern use of Locrian as equivalent to [[Heinrich Glarean|Glarean's]] hyperaeolian mode, in either classical, Renaissance, or later phases of modal theory through the 18th&nbsp;century, or modern scholarship on ancient Greek musical theory and practice.<ref name=Powers-2001a>{{cite dictionary |first=Harold S. |last=Powers |title=Locrian |year=2001a |dictionary=The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians |edition=2nd |editor1-first=Stanley |editor1-last=Sadie |editor1-link=Stanley Sadie |editor2-first=John |editor2-last=Tyrrell |editor2-link=John Tyrrell (professor of music) |place=London, UK |publisher=Macmillan Publishers |page=158 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |first=David |last=Hiley |author-link=David Hiley |year=2002 |section=Mode |title=The Oxford Companion to Music |editor-first=Alison |editor-last=Latham |place=Oxford, UK / New York, NY |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-866212-9 |oclc=59376677 }}</ref>

The name first came into use in modal chant theory after the 18th&nbsp;century,<ref name=Powers-2001a/> when ''Locrian'' was used to describe the newly-numbered mode&nbsp;11, with its final on B, [[ambitus (music)|ambitus]] from that note to the octave above, and semitones therefore between the first and second, and between the fourth and fifth degrees. Its [[reciting tone]] (or tenor) is G, its [[mediant]]&nbsp;D, and it has two [[Musical mode#Western Church|participant]]s: E and F.<ref>{{cite dictionary |first=William Smyth |last=Rockstro |year=1880 |title=Locrian mode |dictionary=A Dictionary of Music and Musicians (A.D. 1450–1880), by eminent writers, English and foreign |volume=2 |editor-first=George, D.C.L. |editor-last=Grove |editor-link=George Grove |place=London, UK |publisher=Macmillan and Co. |page=158 }}</ref> The [[final (music)|final]], as its name implies, is the tone on which the chant eventually settles, and corresponds to the tonic in tonal music. The reciting tone is the tone around which the melody principally centers,<ref>{{cite book |first=Charlotte |last=Smith |year=1989 |title=A Manual of Sixteenth-Century Contrapuntal Style |place=Newark, NJ / London, UK |publisher=University of Delaware Press / Associated University Presses |isbn=978-0-87413-327-1 |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=usc74SGmrf8C&q=a+manual+of+sixteenth&pg=PA14 14] |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=usc74SGmrf8C }}</ref> the term ''[[mediant]]'' is named from its position between the final tone and the reciting tone, and the participant is an auxiliary note, generally adjacent to the mediant in [[authentic modes]] and, in the [[Plagal mode|plagal]] forms, coincident with the reciting tone of the corresponding authentic mode.<ref name=Powers-2001b>{{cite dictionary |first=Harold S. |last=Powers |title=Modes, the ecclesiastical |year=2001b |dictionary=[[The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians]] |edition=2nd |editor1-first=Stanley |editor1-last=Sadie |editor1-link=Stanley Sadie |editor2-first=John |editor2-last=Tyrrell |editor2-link=John Tyrrell (professor of music) |place=London, UK |publisher=Macmillan Publishers |pages=340–343, {{nobr|esp. p. 342}} }}</ref>

==Modern Locrian==
In modern practice, the Locrian may be considered to be one of the modern [[minor scale]]s: The [[natural minor]] with the  [[Minor second| step before second]] and the [[diminished fifth|fifth]] scale degrees reduced from a tone to a [[semitone]]. The Locrian mode may also be considered to be a scale beginning on the seventh scale degree of any [[Ionian mode|Ionian]], or modern natural [[major scale]]. The Locrian mode has the formula:

: 1, {{sup|{{music|b}}}}2, {{sup|{{music|b}}}}3, 4, {{sup|{{music|b}}}}5, {{sup|{{music|b}}}}6, {{sup|{{music|b}}}}7
The chord progression for Locrian starting on B is B{{sub|dim&nbsp;5}}, C{{sup|Maj}}, D{{sub|min}}, E{{sub|min}}, F{{sup|Maj}}, G{{sup|Maj}}, A{{sub|min}}.
Its [[tonic chord]] is a [[diminished triad]] (B{{sub|dim}} = B{{su|b=min&nbsp;3|p=dim&nbsp;5}} = {{sub|B}}{{small|{{small|D}}}}{{sup|F}}, in the Locrian mode using the white-key diatonic scale with starting note&nbsp;B, corresponding to a C&nbsp;major scale starting on its 7th&nbsp;tone). This mode's diminished fifth and the [[Lydian mode]]'s augmented fourth are the only modes that contain a [[tritone]] as a note in their modal scale.

==List of Modern Locrian scales==
{| class="wikitable"
![[Major scale|Major Key]]
![[Minor scale|Minor Key]]
![[Key signature|Key Signatures]]
![[Tonic (music)|Tonic]] of the locrian [[Scale (music)|scale]]
!Locrian scale
|-
|[[G♯ major]]
|[[E♯ minor]]
|[[Key signature#Double flats and sharps|8♯]]
|[[F-double sharp|F𝄪]]
|F𝄪 G♯ A♯ B♯ C♯ D♯ E♯
|-
| [[C♯ major]]
|[[A♯ minor]]|| 7[[♯]] || [[B♯ (musical note)|B♯]] || B♯ C♯ D♯ E♯ F♯ G♯ A♯
|-
| [[F♯ major]]
|[[D♯ minor]]|| 6♯ || [[E♯]] || E♯ F♯ G♯ A♯ B C♯ D♯
|-
| [[B major]]
|[[G♯ minor]]|| 5♯ || [[A♯ (musical note)|A♯]] || A♯ B C♯ D♯ E F♯ G♯
|-
| [[E major]]
|[[C♯ minor]]|| 4♯ || [[D♯ (musical note)|D♯]] || D♯ E F♯ G♯ A B C♯
|-
| [[A major]]
|[[F♯ minor]]|| 3♯ || [[G♯ (musical note)|G♯]] || G♯ A B C♯ D E F♯
|-
| [[D major]]
|[[B minor]]|| 2♯ || [[C♯ (musical note)|C♯]]|| C♯ D E F♯ G A B
|-
| [[G major]]
|[[E minor]]|| 1♯ || [[F♯ (musical note)|F♯]] || F♯ G A B C D E
|-
| [[C major]]
|[[A minor]]|| - || [[B (musical note)|B]] || B C D E F G A
|-
| [[F major]]
|[[D minor]]|| 1[[♭]] || [[E (musical note)|E]] || E F G A B♭ C D
|-
| [[B♭ major]]
|[[G minor]]|| 2♭ || [[A (musical note)|A]] || A B♭ C D E♭ F G
|-
| [[E♭ major]]
|[[C minor]]|| 3♭ || [[D (musical note)|D]] || D E♭ F G A♭ B♭ C
|-
| [[A♭ major]]
|[[F minor]]|| 4♭ || [[G (musical note)|G]] || G A♭ B♭ C D♭ E♭ F
|-
| [[D♭ major]]
|[[B♭ minor]]|| 5♭ || [[C (musical note)|C]] || C D♭ E♭ F G♭ A♭ B♭
|-
| [[G♭ major]]
|[[E♭ minor]]|| 6♭ || [[F (musical note)|F]] || F G♭ A♭ B♭ C♭ D♭ E♭
|-
| [[C♭ major]] 
|[[A♭ minor]]|| 7♭ || [[B♭ (musical note)|B♭]] || B♭ C♭ D♭ E♭ F♭ G♭ A♭
|-
|[[F♭ major]]
|[[D♭ minor]]
|[[Key signature#Double flats and sharps|8♭]]
|[[E♭ (musical note)|E♭]]
|E♭ F♭ G♭ A♭ B𝄫 C♭ D♭
|}

==Overview==
The Locrian mode is the only modern diatonic mode in which the [[tonic chord|tonic triad]] is a [[diminished triad|diminished chord]] ([[diminished fifth|flattened fifth]]), which is considered very [[consonance and dissonance|dissonant]]. This is because the interval between the [[root (chord)|root]] and fifth of the chord is a [[tritone|diminished fifth]]. For example, the tonic triad of B&nbsp;Locrian is made from the notes B, D, F. The root is B and the [[diminished (music)|dim]]&nbsp;5th is F. The diminished-fifth interval between them is the cause for the chord's striking dissonance.{{citation needed|date=January 2018}}
: <score sound=1 lang="lilypond"> {
\override Score.TimeSignature #'stencil = ##f
\relative c' { 
  \clef treble \time 7/4
  b4^\markup { B Locrian mode } c d e f g a b2

} }
</score>

The name "Locrian" is borrowed from music theory of [[Music of ancient Greece|ancient Greece]]. However, what is now called the ''Locrian mode'' was what the Greeks called the [[Mixolydian mode#Greek Mixolydian|diatonic ''Mixolydian'' tonos]]. The Greeks used the term "Locrian" as an alternative name for their "[[Hypodorian mode|Hypodorian]]", or "common" tonos, with a scale running from ''mese'' to ''nete hyperbolaion'', which in its diatonic genus corresponds to the modern [[Aeolian mode]].<ref>{{cite dictionary |first=T.J. |last=Mathiesen |author-link=Thomas J. Mathiesen |year=2001 |section=Greece, §1:&nbsp;Ancient; §6:&nbsp;Music Theory |dictionary=[[The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians]] |edition=2nd  |editor1-first=Stanley |editor1-last=Sadie |editor1-link=Stanley Sadie |editor2-first=John |editor2-last=Tyrrell |editor2-link=John Tyrrell (professor of music) |place=London, UK |publisher=Macmillan Publishers |pages= }}</ref>

In his reform of modal theory,<ref>{{cite book |first=H. |last=Glarean |author-link=Heinrich Glarean |year=1547 |title=Dodecachordon }}</ref>  [[Heinrich Glarean|Glarean]] named this division of the octave "hyperaeolian" and printed some musical examples (a three-part polyphonic example specially commissioned from his friend [[Sixtus Dietrich]], and the Christe from a mass by [[Pierre de La Rue|{{nobr|de la Rue}}]]), though he did not accept hyperaeolian as one of his twelve modes.<ref name=Powers-2001c>{{cite dictionary |first=Harold S. |last=Powers |title=Hyperaeolian |year=2001c |dictionary=[[The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians]] |edition=2nd |editor1-first=Stanley |editor1-last=Sadie |editor1-link=Stanley Sadie |editor2-first=John |editor2-last=Tyrrell |editor2-link=John Tyrrell (professor of music) |place=London, UK |publisher=Macmillan Publishers |pages= }}</ref> The use of the term "Locrian" as equivalent to Glarean's ''hyperaeolian'' or the ancient Greek (diatonic) ''mixolydian'', however, has no authority before the 19th&nbsp;century.<ref name=Powers-2001a/>

==Use==
{{More citations needed|section|date=January 2023}}

===Use in classical music===

There are brief passages in [[classical music|classical]], especially [[orchestra|orchestral]], works that have been regarded as using the Locrian mode: 
* [[Sergei Rachmaninoff]] ([[Preludes, Op. 32 (Rachmaninoff)|Prelude in B&nbsp;minor, op.&nbsp;32, no.&nbsp;10]]),<ref name=Persichetti-1961/>
* [[Paul Hindemith]] (''[[Ludus Tonalis]]''),<ref name=Persichetti-1961/>
* [[Jean Sibelius]] ([[Symphony No. 4 (Sibelius)|Symphony No.&nbsp;4 in A&nbsp;minor, op.&nbsp;63]]).<ref name=Persichetti-1961>{{cite book |first=Vincent |last=Persichetti |year=1961 |title=Twentieth Century Harmony |place=New York, NY |publisher=W.W. Norton & Company |page=42 }}</ref>
* [[Claude Debussy]]'s ''[[Jeux]]'' has three extended passages in the Locrian mode.<ref>{{cite magazine |first=Eduardo |last=Larín |date=Spring–Summer 2005 |title=&hairsp;"Waves" in Debussy's ''Jeux d'eau''&hairsp; |magazine=[[Ex Tempore (magazine)|Ex Tempore]] |volume=12 |issue=2 |url=http://www.ex-tempore.org/eduardo/eduardo.htm |via=ex-tempore.org }}</ref>
* [[Paul Hindemith]]'s "Turandot Scherzo", the theme of the second movement of ''[[Symphonic Metamorphosis of Themes by Carl Maria von Weber]]'' (1943) alternates sections in [[mixolydian mode|mixolydian]] and Locrian modes, ending in Locrian.<ref>{{cite conference |first=Gene |last=Anderson |year=1996 |title=&hairsp;''The triumph of timelessness over time in Hindemith's "Turandot Scherzo" from'' Symphonic Metamorphosis of Themes by Carl Maria von Weber |conference=College Music Symposium |volume=36 |pages=1–15, citation p&nbsp;3 }}</ref>
* [[Benjamin Britten]] used the Locrian mode for "In Freezing Winter's Night", the ninth song in ''[[A Ceremony of Carols]]''.
* Evan Bennett, an American composer, composed his Gnossienne No. 1 in F Locrian in the Locrian mode, in homage to [[Erik Satie]]’s [[Gnossiennes|Gnossienne No. 1]] (ca. 1890).<ref>{{cite web |date=6 March 2024 |title=Using Modes to Compose: Locrian |last=Mair |first=Nadia |url=https://www.nadiamair.com/post/using-modes-to-compose-locrian |website=The Composer's Life |access-date=30 May 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |date=17 February 2023 |title=Songs in the Locrian Mode |url=https://www.cmuse.org/songs-in-locrian-mode/ |website=CMUSE |access-date=28 May 2025}}</ref>

===Use in folk and popular music===
The Locrian mode is almost never used in folk or popular music:

: "In practical terms it should be said that few rock songs that use modes such as the Phrygian, Lydian, or Locrian actually maintain a harmony rigorously fixed on them. What usually happens is that the scale is harmonized in [chords with perfect] fifths and the riffs are then played [over] those [chords]."<ref name=Rooksby-2010>{{cite book |last=Rooksby |first=Rikky |year=2010 |title=Riffs: How to create and play great guitar riffs |publisher=Backbeat |isbn=9781476855486 |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=ftGGDwAAQBAJ&dq=Locrian+mode&pg=PT121 121] |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ftGGDwAAQBAJ |via=Google books }}</ref>

Among the very few instances of folk and popular music in the Locrian mode:

* The Locrian is used in [[Middle Eastern music]] as ''maqam Lami''.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Maqam Lami |url=https://www.maqamworld.com/en/maqam/lami.php |access-date=2025-01-01 |website=www.maqamworld.com}}</ref> In 24 TET, it is possible to create 12 TET scales, and Lami has the same intervals as Locrian.
* [[Slipknot (band)|Slipknot]]'s track "[[Iowa (album)|Everything Ends]]" uses an A Locrian scale with the fourth note sometimes flattened.<ref name=Rooksby-2010/>
* English folk musician [[John Kirkpatrick (folk musician)|John Kirkpatrick]]'s song "Dust to Dust" was written in the Locrian mode,<ref>{{cite web |last=Boden |first=Jon |author-link=Jon Boden |date=21 April 2012 |title="Dust to Dust" |website=A Folk Song a Day (afolksongaday.com) |url=http://www.afolksongaday.com/2012/04/21/dust-to-dust/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121003032910/http://www.afolksongaday.com/2012/04/21/dust-to-dust/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=3 October 2012 }}</ref> backed by his [[concertina]]. The Locrian mode is not at all traditional in English music, but was used by Kirkpatrick as a musical innovation.<ref name=EDS2000>{{cite journal |last=Kirkpatrick |first=John |author-link=John Kirkpatrick (folk musician) |date=Summer 2000 |title=The art of writing songs |journal=English Dance & Song |volume=62 |issue=2 |page=27 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7fbZAAAAMAAJ |access-date=23 October 2020 |issn=0013-8231 |id={{nobr|[[EFDSS]] [http://catalogue.efdss.org/cgi-bin/koha/opac-detail.pl?biblionumber{{=}}55987 55987]}} }}</ref>
* [[Björk]]'s "[[Army of Me]]" is dominated by a heavy bassline in C Locrian.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Hein |first1=Ethan |date=17 November 2015 |title=Musical simples: Army Of Me |url=https://www.ethanhein.com/wp/2015/musical-simples-army-of-me/ |access-date=5 November 2020 |website=The Ethan Hein Blog}}</ref>
* The song "Gliese 710" from [[King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard]]'s 2022 album ''[[Ice, Death, Planets, Lungs, Mushrooms and Lava]]'' is in Locrian, following the album's theme of basing each song around one of the Greek modes.<ref>{{cite web |last=Anderson |first=Carys |date=7 September 2022 |title=King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard announce three albums dropping in October, share "Ice&nbsp;V": Stream |type=music review |website=Consequence (consequence.net) |url=https://consequence.net/2022/09/king-gizzard-and-the-lizard-wizard-three-new-albums/ |access-date=2022-10-13 |language=en-US}}</ref>
* Locrian mode is used in many places on the album [[The Last Will and Testament|''The Last Will and Testament'']] by [[Opeth]].<ref>{{Cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJCuZ0EHvJM |title=Patreon Exclusive: OPETH: THE LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT {{!}} Full Album reaction and analysis {{!}} Ep. 947 |date=2025-04-25 |last=Doug Helvering |access-date=2025-06-23 |via=YouTube}} Discussion of locrian mode starts at around 1:32:50.</ref>

==References==
{{reflist|25em}}

==Further reading==
{{refbegin|25em|small=yes}}

* {{cite journal |last=Bárdos |first=Lajos |date=December 1976 |title=Egy 'szomorú' hangnem: Kodály zenéje és a lokrikum |journal=Magyar zene: Zenetudományi folyóirat |volume=17 |issue=4 |pages=339–387 }}
* {{cite book |last=Hewitt |first=Michael |year=2013 |title=Musical Scales of the World |publisher=The Note Tree |isbn=978-0957547001 }}
* {{cite book |last1=Nichols |first1=Roger |last2=Smith |first2=Richard Langham |year=1989 |title=Claude Debussy, ''Pelléas et Mélisande'' |series=Cambridge Opera Handbooks |place=Cambridge, UK / New York, NY |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-31446-6 }}
* {{cite journal |last=Rahn |first=Jay |date=Fall 1978 |title=Constructs for modality, ca.&nbsp;1300–1550 |journal=Canadian Association of University Schools of Music Journal |volume=8 |issue=2 |pages=5–39 }}
* {{cite journal |last=Rowold |first=Helge |date=April–June 1999 |title='To achieve perfect clarity of expression, that is my aim': Zum Verhältnis von Tradition und Neuerung in Benjamin Britten's ''[[War Requiem]]'' |journal=[[Die Musikforschung]] |volume=52 |issue=2 |pages=212–219 |doi=10.52412/mf.1999.H2.889 }}
* {{cite dictionary |last=Smith |first=Richard Langham |year=1992 |entry=Pelléas et Mélisande |title=The New Grove Dictionary of Opera |editor-first=Stanley |editor-last=Sadie |editor-link=Stanley Sadie |place=London, UK / New York, NY |publisher=Macmillan Press |series=[[Grove's Dictionaries of Music]] }} {{ISBN|0-333-48552-1}} (UK) {{ISBN|0-935859-92-6}} (US)

{{refend}}

==External links==
* {{cite web |title=Locrian mode for guitar |website=GOSK.com |url=http://gosk.com/scales/locrian-scale-for-guitar.php }}

{{Modes}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Locrian Mode}}
[[Category:Modes (music)]]