Locrian

TQ-Explore Activity

Focus Three Explore World Sounds

The Locrian mode is also named after an ancient Greek people.

Map illustrating the cultural influence of Locris between the 8th and 6th centuries, highlighting regions in modern-day Italy, Greece, and Turkey with their respective flags.

However, unlike the other modes we have explored, the Locrian mode is very unusual and is almost never used to write melodies or chords in traditional music. It has a very unstable and unsettling sound.

This mode is mostly used in advanced music theory to understand how scales are built, or sometimes in very experimental music or film scores to create specific feelings of tension, chaos, or unease.

TQ Build Activity

Focus Nine Ancient Sounds

To play the B Locrian mode, simply start on the note B and play all the white notes on a piano until you reach the next B.

The B Locrian mode uses the notes: B - C - D - E - F - G - A - B

The Locrian mode is unique because it has two "special" notes that make it sound very unstable: the C natural (a minor second) and, most importantly, the F natural (a diminished fifth).

Let us see why this makes it so unstable. A "perfect fifth" (like C to G in C major) is usually the strongest, most stable interval in music, creating a feeling of "home." But in B Locrian, the interval from B to F is a "diminished fifth" – it is a perfect fifth made smaller. This interval sounds harsh and unresolved.

Compare this to B minor which has also has a perfect 5th of B to F sharp but a very different sound.

Now play B-Locrian again and listen to the difference. Can you describe it in words?

B minor/ B Aeoilan & B Locrian

If a major scale is like a "regular happy face," the Locrian mode is like a "face that feels very uneasy and can't find its balance." It is the musical equivalent of a wobbly chair!

You will rarely hear the Locrian mode used melodically in popular songs. Its main use is often in academic studies of harmony or in very specific, dissonant musical textures where extreme tension is desired, such as in some heavy metal, jazz fusion, or horror film soundtracks. Dust to Dust by John Kirkpatrick is a rare use of this mode about a grave digger and Björk uses the Locrian mode to replicate chaos in Army of Me.

If Ionian is 'happy and straightforward,'

Mixolydian is 'heroic and adventurous,'

Dorian is 'cool and thoughtful,'

Lydian is 'dreamy and magical,' and

Aeolian is 'sad and serious,' the

Locrian mode is 'unstable and unsettling.'

TQ-Create Activity

Focus seven, create a piece using level scales, modes and chords

Using only the white notes, try to play the B Locrian scale.

Can you hear how difficult it is to make it sound like it has a "home" or a stable ending?

Think about how this scale can be used to create a feeling of danger or chaos in a movie scene.

Manuscript Paper Download

TQ Grow Activity

Focus two, complete a simple research project

Locrian Mode Questions.

What are some moods the Locrian mode can create?
Why is the Locrian mode considered unstable and rarely used in melodies?
In B Locrian, which two notes are particularly 'special' for its sound?
Name one type of music where the Locrian mode can be used, even if rarely

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