Last week we began learning about modes.
In a slightly more conventional setup, I would follow up last week’s blog with the introduction of minor modes, however today is 31st October and so I have not only broken that tradition - but also the tradition of posting on a Saturday morning - in favour of introducing the Devil’s Interval and the Locrian Mode to you to celebrate the spooky season!
What is Locrian Mode?
Let’s firstly refresh our memories:
Ionian is our major scale that we know and love.
Lydian is like our major scale except that we raise the fourth note by one semitone.
Mixolydian is like our major scale except that we lower the seventh note by one semitone.
Now let’s consider a little bit of keyboard history:
Modes in History
Once upon a time, at the birth of the first keyboard instruments (not the piano - not even the harpsichord), music was performed on what we now recognise as the white keys of the piano. Therefore, everything could be said to be played in C major / A minor.
However, in order to create different moods, modes were used.
By using the principles of the root scale - in this case C - yet starting on a different note each time, we can perform different modes.
Needless to say, in the key of C major, starting on C is Ionian.
If I played a scale starting on the fourth note - F - and use only white notes as per C major, I get lydian mode.
If I did the same thing but starting on the fifth note - the G - using only white notes as per C major, I get mixolydian mode.
Although not yet covered in these blogs, D, E and A also have their modes - minor modes -, but then we get to B.
And any pupil of mine will tell you that I have a tendency to tell them:
“Ignore the B for now, it’s awkward”.
And awkward it is.
Because if you play a scale starting on B using all white notes, you get Locrian Mode.
Locrian Mode Explained
To give a complete rundown of Locrian mode, you have to lower everything by a semitone except for the root / tonic and the fourth.
Therefore, C Locrian would be:
C D♭ E ♭ F G ♭ A ♭ B ♭
What is a Tritone?
Now comes into play the very crux of the problem of Locrian Mode - at least as far as classical music and earlier goes;
It features an incredibly prominent tritone!
A tritone is - as you can probably guess - the interval made up of a sequence of three whole tones.
So a tone from C - D is one, then D - E is two, but then E to F♯ is three.
Thus, C - F# is a tritone.
We can refer to this one of two ways:
An augmented fourth
A diminished fifth
The way in which we refer to it depends entirely on its context. For example, when I refer to the C Locrian mode above, you’ll notice that I don’t mention F ♯ but I do mention G ♭. Although these are harmonically the same note, if I’m referring to it as the latter then I am flattening what would otherwise be C - G (a perfect fifth) thus it is a diminished fifth.
If, however, I were referring to F♯ then I would be sharpening the fourth - F - and turning a perfect fourth: C - F - into an augmented fourth: C - F♯ .
All scales and modes feature a tritone somewhere, however they normally come in a place in which they can resolve easily.
For example, your typical major scale (Ionian) features just one tritone that can be started from the fourth note. So, in C major, this would be F. And the tritone would be F - B (three tones apart). But B is a leading note, so it resolves very pleasantly back to its root / tonic - C!
In Locrian mode, our tonic is the note on which we have our tritone. Worrying! Thus, there is always a sense of apprehension and dissonance within this mode that is much the reason why many classical compositions don’t tend to use it!
It stood against everything that music stood for once upon a time: particularly as music was by and large either a celebratory or religious affair. Therefore, music with such oddity was not at all conventional.
And the tritone did indeed gain the nickname ‘The Devil’s Interval’ although, tragic as this is because the story is fabulous, it was not banned! Just far from the norm.
Music in Locrian Mode
If you wish to go down a rabbit hole and delve into the weird and wonderful world of finding music written in Locrian Mode, I wish you well. Whilst you may come close, you will likely find no examples because it just doesn’t work as well as we’d like harmonically.
If you’d like to hear examples of the Devil’s Interval prominently in action - but not in Locrian - consider a lot of music by Danny Elfman:
Theme from ‘The Simpsons’
Theme from ‘Beetlejuice’
Theme from ‘Tales from the Crypt’
Or for an examples in the land of musical theatre, consider:
“Maria” from ‘West Side Story’ (the singing of ‘Maria’ in the chorus is C - F♯ - G)
Jack Mitchell Smith is a piano teacher based in Macclesfield, Cheshire. Click here to find out more.
Weekly blogs are posted that may help you with your musical or piano journey. Click here to sign up to the mailing list so you never miss a post!
Comments