What is Locrian Harmony?

Question

I like utilizing modes in my the pieces I write, but there is one mode I've never been able to fully grasp and utilize and that is the Locrian mode. The chords that naturally occur in the Locrian mode don't seem to lend themselves well to any chord progression that implies the tonic especially since the tonic chord itself is diminished and is perceived by most to be unstable. So when composing in the Locrian mode, is it possible to create a chord progression that leads back to the tonic convincingly and if so what are the concepts behind it and what should one look for?

Answer 1

Locrian harmony poses the problem of a tonic note that can’t rely on a perfect fifth for its stability. Therefore using the triad built on the tonic may be limiting.

Eliminating the diminished fifth, on the other hand, takes away the characteristic that distinguishes the Locrian from the Phrygian.

You can experiment with chords built in fourths instead of in thirds, and with clusters that may include seconds and fourths rather than thirds. With these devices you can explore dark colors of this mode for both melody and harmonization.

Your thoughts about progressions can likewise benefit from focusing away from tonic/dominant relationships and their circle-of-fifths corollaries. There is no dominant in the Locrian mode, unless you think of the supertonic-tonic relationship as a tritone substitute. The minor7b5 has such a long historical association with being a chord that leads directly or indirectly to the dominant chord a fifth below – and leading away from the Locrian tonal center - that it may be difficult to dissociate it from that perception. You can find various videos online that detail the occurrence of the Locrian mode in the context of a pop sing, or different chord voicings on the tonic note of the Locrian mode, and these may be worth viewing, but experimenting with moving stacks of fourths and seconds, and in non-fifth based progressions may be your most fruitful avenues of exploration.

Answer 2

Hi! How are you today? I hope you're staying safe at home...

Locrian harmony and progressions as the tonic chord (VIIm7b5 chord derived from the major scale) contains a tritone that makes it unstable as you said. The best way to write a locrian-sounding progression is:

(let's suppose you're using B Locrian -taken from C Major scale-)

1.) Your tonic ( I ) Chord will be Bm7b5 (or Bdim if you want it as a triad)

2.) Best chords for the progression are the lateral chords (this is, the chords above and below the tonic one, that are diatonic to the major parent key). These chords will be Am7 and Cmaj7.

3.) Try to add a reasonable amount of the locrian characteristic note to your melody (b2, which is C)

4.) Do not try to use tonal harmonic functions (they won't work here)

5.) You can use both Bm7b5 and G7 (Bm7b5 has the same notes as G7/9), but never move from any of these chords to a C chord (this would be a parent V-I or VII-I resolution, which would kill the modal sound).

That's the basic thing to do!

Please contact me anytime if you ever happen to be interested in some harmony lessons! I've worked as a tutor for Berklee and AM Barcelona students; some great learning materials are available for your lessons!

Have a great week and take care!

Carlos