A hexachord is a collection of six musical notes. The term derives from the Greek word Greek: ἑξάχορδος, a compound of ἕξ (hex, six) and χορδή (chordē).[1]
Usage
editSince the 11th century, hexachords have been used in music pedagogy. Guido of Arezzo is the nominal creator of a learning system that relied on a six-note scale to facilitate rapid learning of melodies.[2] Hexachord also could refer to the musical interval of a sixth.[3]
In the 20th century, music theorists broadened the definition of the hexachord into any collection of six notes. The notes did not need to be contiguous members of a scale or tone row.[5][6][7] David Lewin used the term in this sense as early as 1959.[8] Carlton Gamer uses hexachord and hexad interchangeably.[9]
See also
edit- Hexatonic scale
- Musica ficta
- Guidonian hand
- Combinatoriality
- Hexachordal complementation
- 6-20, 6-34, 6-Z43, and 6-Z44
Sources
edit- ^ Ephraim Chambers, Cyclopædia: or, an Universal Dictionary of Arts and Sciences, 2 vols. (London: Printed for J. and J. Knapton [and 18 others], 1728): 1, part 2:247.
- ^ Rockstro, W.S.. "Hexachord", Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians. Macmillan, 1911. 391f.
- ^ William Holder, A Treatise of the Natural Grounds and Principles of Harmony. London: John Carr, 1694. 86, 192.
- ^ Arnold Whittall, The Cambridge Introduction to Serialism, Cambridge Introductions to Music (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2008): 23. ISBN 978-0-521-86341-4 (hardback) ISBN 978-0-521-68200-8 (pbk).
- ^ Forte, Allen (1973). The Structure of Atonal Music. Yale University Press. ISBN 0-300-02120-8.[page needed]
- ^ Hanson, Howard (1960). Harmonic Materials of Modern Music: Resources of the Tempered Scale. New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts. ISBN 0891972072.
{{cite book}}: ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)[page needed] - ^ George Perle, Serial Composition and Atonality: An Introduction to the Music of Schoenberg, Berg, and Webern, sixth edition, revised (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1991): 6. ISBN 978-0-520-07430-9.
- ^ David Lewin, "Re: Intervallic Relations Between Two Collections of Notes", Journal of Music Theory 3, no. 2 (November 1959): 298–301, citation on 300.
- ^ Carlton Gamer, "Some Combinational Resources of Equal-Tempered Systems", Journal of Music Theory 11, no. 1 (Spring 1967): 37, 41.
Further reading
edit- Rahn, John. 1980. Basic Atonal Theory. Longman Music Series. New York and London: Longman Inc. ISBN 0-582-28117-2.
- Roeder, John. "Set (ii)". The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, second edition, edited by Stanley Sadie and John Tyrrell. London: Macmillan Publishers, 2001.
