The Composer's Life
Diving into the day-to-day details of a composer: what they do, how they do it, and why. Nadia, the host, is a composer for film and media and a graduate from Berklee College of Music. She shares tips on how to compose, music theory, her experiences, and interviews other composers to give you an insider's view on composing professionally.
Website: https://www.nadiamair.com/the-composers-life
Email: nadiammair@gmail.com
The Composer's Life
Composing with Modes: Locrian
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Locrian is the mode that doesn’t quite settle anywhere. It feels unstable from the very first note — not because something is wrong, but because of the way it refuses to resolve in a traditional western sense.
In this final episode of The Composer’s Life modes series, I look at Locrian and what happens when you try to compose with a sound that doesn’t naturally want to feel like “home.”
Rather than treating it as a limitation, this episode leans into what makes it unique: its tension, its ambiguity, and the way it exists outside of the usual sense of stability that most music is built on.
It’s a reminder that not every musical idea needs to resolve cleanly to still be meaningful.
This is the last of a seven part series where I break down each musical mode so you can use in your own composing.
To get more help with the concept, here's an article that contains music examples, video explanations, and a pdf with all the Locrian scales:
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