The Locrian mode is either a musical mode or simply a diatonic scale.

Contents [hide] 1 History 2 Modern Locrian 3 Overview 4 Usage 5 References 6 Further reading 7 External links History [edit] 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 usage of Locrian as equivalent to Glarean's Hypera eolian mode, in either classical, Renaissance, or later phases of modal theory t hrough the 18th century, or modern scholarship on ancient Greek musical theory a nd practice.[1] The name first came to be applied to modal chant theory after th e 18th century,[2] when it was used to describe the mode newly numbered as mode 11, with final on B, ambitus from that note to the octave above, and with semito nes therefore between the first and second, and fourth and fifth degrees. Its re citing tone (or tenor) is G, its mediant D, and it has two participants: E and F .[3] The final, as its name implies, is the tone on which the chant eventually s ettles, and corresponds to the tonic in tonal music. The reciting tone is the to ne around which the melody principally centres,[4] the mediant is named from its position between the final and reciting tone, and the participant is an auxilia ry note, generally adjacent to the mediant in authentic modes and, in the plagal forms, coincident with the reciting tone of the corresponding authentic mode.[5 ] Modern Locrian [edit] In modern practice, the Locrian may be considered to be a minor scale with the s econd and fifth scale degrees lowered a semitone. The Locrian mode may also be c onsidered to be a scale beginning on the seventh scale degree of any Ionian, or major scale. The Locrian mode has the formula 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. Its tonic chord is a diminished triad (Bdim in the Locrian mode of the diatonic scale correspondin g to C major). Some examples: The B Locrian mode starts on B and contains the same notes as the C Major scale. (B, C, D, E, F, G, A, B) The E Locrian mode starts on E and contains the same notes as the F Major scale. (E, F, G, A, B, C, D, E) The G Locrian mode starts on G and contains the same notes as the A Major scale. (G, A, B, C, D, E, F, G) The F Locrian mode starts on F and contains the same notes as the G Major scale. ( F, G, A, B, C, D, E, F ) Locrian on B. Overview [edit] The Locrian mode is the only modern diatonic mode in which the tonic triad is a diminished chord, which is considered dissonant. This is because the interval be tween the root and fifth of the chord is a diminished fifth. For example, the to nic triad of B Locrian is made from the notes B, D, F. The root is B and the fif th is F. The diminished-fifth interval between them is the cause for the chord's dissonance. Although in some practices, the fifth may be omitted from the tonic chord.[vague][citation needed] The name "Locrian" is taken from music theory of ancient Greece. However, what i s now called the Locrian mode was what the Greeks called the Diatonic Mixolydian tonos. The Greeks used the term "Locrian" as an alternative name for their "Hyp

odorian", or "Common" tonos, with a scale running from mese to nete hyperbolaion , which in its diatonic genus corresponds to the modern Aeolian mode.[6] In his reform of modal theory in the Dodecachordon (1547), Heinrich 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), though he did not accept Hype raeolian as one of his twelve modes.[7] The usage of the term "Locrian" as equiv alent to Glarean's Hyperaeolian or the ancient Greek (diatonic) Mixolydian, howe ver, has no authority before the 19th century.[8] Usage [edit] There are brief passages in works by Rachmaninov (Prelude in B minor, op. 32, no . 10), Hindemith (Ludus Tonalis), and Sibelius (Symphony no. 4 in A minor, op. 6 3) that have been, or may be, regarded as in the Locrian mode.[9] Debussy's Jeux has three extended passages in the Locrian mode.[10] The theme of the second movement ("Turandot Scherzo") of Hindemith's Symphonic M etamorphosis of Themes by Carl Maria von Weber (1943) alternates sections in Mix olydian and Locrian modes, ending in Locrian.[11] English folk musician John Kirkpatrick's song "Dust to Dust"[1] was written in t he Locrian mode, backed by his accordion.[12] The Locrian mode is not at all tra ditional in English music, but was used by Kirkpatrick as a musical innovation. Icelandic singer-songwriter Bjrk used the Locrian mode for the bass part of her 1 995 hit "Army of Me".[13