Locrian mode: Difference between revisions

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Why wouldn't the musical example match the written description in the opening paragraph?
 
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:<score sound=1 lang="lilypond"> {
:<score sound=1 lang="lilypond"> {
\key c \locrian
\key c \major
\override Score.TimeSignature #'stencil = ##f
\override Score.TimeSignature #'stencil = ##f
\relative c' {  
\relative c' {  
   \clef treble \time 7/4
   \clef treble \time 7/4
   c4^\markup { C Locrian mode } des es f ges aes bes c2
   b4^\markup { Locrian mode } c d e f g a b2


} }
} }
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''[[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>
''[[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>
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==
==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:
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
: 1, {{sup|{{music|b}}}}2, {{sup|{{music|b}}}}3, 4, {{sup|{{music|b}}}}5, {{sup|{{music|b}}}}6, {{sup|{{music|b}}}}7
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![[Tonic (music)|Tonic]] of the locrian [[Scale (music)|scale]]
![[Tonic (music)|Tonic]] of the locrian [[Scale (music)|scale]]
!Locrian 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]]
| [[C♯ major]]
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| [[C♭ major]]  
| [[C♭ major]]  
|[[A♭ minor]]|| 7♭ || [[B♭ (musical note)|B♭]] || B♭ C♭ D♭ E♭ F♭ G♭ A♭
|[[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♭
|}
|}


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</score>
</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>
The name "Locrian" is borrowed from music theory of [[Music of ancient Greece|ancient Greece]]. What is now called the ''Locrian mode'', however, 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 the ''Missa de Sancto Antonio'' by [[Pierre de La Rue|{{nobr|de la Rue}}]]), although 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>


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/>
The term "Locrian" as equivalent to Glarean's ''hyperaeolian'' or the ancient Greek (diatonic) ''mixolydian'', however, was not used until the [[19th century]].<ref name=Powers-2001a/>


==Use==
==Use==
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There are brief passages in [[classical music|classical]], especially [[orchestra|orchestral]], works that have been regarded as using the Locrian mode:  
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/>
* [[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/>
* [[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>
* [[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>
* [[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>
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* 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.
* 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/>
* [[Slipknot (band)|Slipknot]]'s track "[[Iowa (album)|Everything Ends]]" uses an A Locrian scale with the fourth note sometimes flattened. Numerous other tracks by Slipknot use Locrian mode as well such as "[[Iowa (album)|The Shape]]", "[[I Am Hated|I am Hated]]", "[[Left Behind (Slipknot song)|Left Behind]]", "[[Iowa (album)|New Abortion]]", and "[[Duality (song)|Duality]]".<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>
* 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>
* [[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>
* 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>
* [[Gojira (band)|Gojira]] uses this mode on a few songs such as "[[From Mars to Sirius|From Mars]]" and "[[The Way of All Flesh (album)|Oroborus]]", both use an E Locrian scale.
* Locrian mode is used in many places on the album ''[[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==
==References==

Latest revision as of 21:02, 2 December 2025

Template:Short description The Locrian mode is the seventh mode of the major scale. It is either a 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 \major \override Score.TimeSignature #'stencil = ##f \relative c' { 

 \clef treble \time 7/4
 b4^\markup { Locrian mode } c d e f g a b2

} } </score>

History

Locrian is the word used to describe an ancient Greek tribe that inhabited the three regions of Locris.[1] 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 Glarean's hyperaeolian mode, in either classical, Renaissance, or later phases of modal theory through the 18th century, or modern scholarship on ancient Greek musical theory and practice.[2][3]

The name first came into use in modal chant theory after the 18th century,[2] when Locrian was used to describe the newly numbered mode 11, with its final on B, 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 D, and it has two participants: E and F.[4] The 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,[5] 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 forms, coincident with the reciting tone of the corresponding authentic mode.[6]

Modern Locrian

In modern practice, the Locrian may be considered to be one of the modern minor scales: The natural minor with the step before second and the 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, or modern natural major scale. The Locrian mode has the formula:

1, ♭2, ♭3, 4, ♭5, ♭6, ♭7

The chord progression for Locrian starting on B is Bdim 5, CMaj, Dmin, Emin, FMaj, GMaj, Amin. Its tonic chord is a diminished triad (Bdim = BScript error: No such module "Su". = BDScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".F, in the Locrian mode using the white-key diatonic scale with starting note B, corresponding to a C major scale starting on its 7th 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

Major Key Minor Key Key Signatures Tonic of the locrian scale Locrian scale
C♯ major A♯ minor 7♯ 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♯ A♯ B C♯ D♯ E F♯ G♯
E major C♯ minor 4♯ D♯ D♯ E F♯ G♯ A B C♯
A major F♯ minor 3♯ G♯ G♯ A B C♯ D E F♯
D major B minor 2♯ C♯ C♯ D E F♯ G A B
G major E minor 1♯ F♯ F♯ G A B C D E
C major A minor - B B C D E F G A
F major D minor 1♭ E E F G A B♭ C D
B♭ major G minor 2♭ A A B♭ C D E♭ F G
E♭ major C minor 3♭ D D E♭ F G A♭ B♭ C
A♭ major F minor 4♭ G G A♭ B♭ C D♭ E♭ F
D♭ major B♭ minor 5♭ C C D♭ E♭ F G♭ A♭ B♭
G♭ major E♭ minor 6♭ F F G♭ A♭ B♭ C♭ D♭ E♭
C♭ major A♭ minor 7♭ B♭ B♭ C♭ D♭ E♭ F♭ G♭ A♭

Overview

The Locrian mode is the only modern diatonic mode in which the tonic triad is a diminished chord (flattened fifth), which is considered very dissonant. This is because the interval between the root and fifth of the chord is a diminished fifth. For example, the tonic triad of B Locrian is made from the notes B, D, F. The root is B and the dim 5th is F. The diminished-fifth interval between them is the cause for the chord's striking dissonance.Script error: No such module "Unsubst".

<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 ancient Greece. What is now called the Locrian mode, however, was what the Greeks called the diatonic Mixolydian tonos. The Greeks used the term "Locrian" as an alternative name for their "Hypodorian", or "common" tonos, with a scale running from mese to nete hyperbolaion, which in its diatonic genus corresponds to the modern Aeolian mode.[7]

In his reform of modal theory,[8] 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 the Missa de Sancto Antonio by de la Rue), although he did not accept hyperaeolian as one of his twelve modes.[9]

The term "Locrian" as equivalent to Glarean's hyperaeolian or the ancient Greek (diatonic) mixolydian, however, was not used until the 19th century.[2]

Use

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Use in classical music

There are brief passages in classical, especially orchestral, works that have been regarded as using the Locrian mode:

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]."[15]

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

References

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  8. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  9. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  10. ↑ a b c Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
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  15. ↑ a b Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
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  19. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
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  21. ↑ Script error: No such module "Citation/CS1". Discussion of locrian mode starts at around 1:32:50.

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Further reading

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External links

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