In music, themajor Locrian scale, also called theLocrian major scale, is the scale obtained by sharpening the second and third notes of the diatonicLocrian mode. With a tonic of C, it consists of the notes C D E F G♭ A♭ B♭. It can be described as a whole tone scale extending from G♭ to E, with F introduced within thediminished third interval from E to G♭. The scale therefore shares with the Locrian mode the property of having adiminished fifth above the tonic.
It can also be the natural minor scale orAeolian mode withraised third andlowered fifth intervals. It may also be derived from the Phrygian Dominant scale, but this time, the second is major, while the fifth is diminished.
In English,Arabian scale may refer to what is known as the major Locrian scale.[1] A version of the major Locrian scale is listed asmode 3 in the French translation ofSafi Al-Din's treatiseKitab Al-Adwar.[citation needed] This was aPythagorean version of the scale.
Aside from this Arabic version, interest in the major Locrian is a phenomenon of the twentieth century, but the scale is definable in anymeantone system. It is notable as one of the fiveproper seven-note scales inequal temperament, and as strictly proper in any meantone tuning with fifths flatter than 700cents. If we take the tonic in the scale given above to be G♭ rather than C, we obtain theleading whole-tone scale, which with a tonic on C is C–D–E–F♯–G♯–A♯–B; this can equally well be characterized as one of the five proper seven-note scales of equal temperament.
The major Locrian scale is the 5th mode of theNeapolitan major scale, which may be used in conjunction with theNeapolitan chord, but is not limited to it. This scale is also known asmelodic minor♭2.[2] Its modes and corresponding seventh chords are:
The major Locrian scale has only twoperfect fifths, but it has in some sense a complete cycle of thirds if one is willing to count adiminished third as a third: four major thirds, two minor thirds and a diminished third making up two octaves. In 12-equal temperament, the diminished third isenharmonically equivalent to a major second, but in other meantone systems it is wider and more nearly like a third.
Howard Hanson in hisHarmonic Materials of Modern Music devotes several pages to the major Locrian,[3] or more precisely to itstranspositional set class, a concept Hanson pioneered. He names this transpositional class theseven-tone impure major second scale, and notes that the various modes of the major Locrian can all be defined as thewhole tone scale with one additional note, and where that note occurs does not affect the transpositional class. He also notes that the scale has the property that every three-note chord possible in the twelve tone chromatic scale already appears in the major Locrian.
Examples are given of the use of this scale byClaude Debussy in his operaPelléas et Mélisande andAlban Berg in his song "Nacht".