A hexachord is a collection of six musical notes. The term derives from the Greek word , a compound of ἕξ (hex, six) and χορδή (chordē).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.
Usage Since 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.Rockstro, W.S.. "Hexachord", Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians. Macmillan, 1911. 391f. Hexachord also could refer to the musical interval of a sixth.William Holder, A Treatise of the Natural Grounds and Principles of Harmony. London: John Carr, 1694. 86, 192.
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.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. . David Lewin used the term in this sense as early as 1959.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 uses hexachord and hexad interchangeably.Carlton Gamer, "Some Combinational Resources of Equal-Tempered Systems", Journal of Music Theory 11, no. 1 (Spring 1967): 37, 41.
See also Hexatonic scale Musica ficta Guidonian hand Combinatoriality Hexachordal complementation 6-20, 6-34, 6-Z43, and 6-Z44
Sources
Further reading Rahn, John. 1980. Basic Atonal Theory. Longman Music Series. New York and London: Longman Inc. . 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.
External links Hexachords, solmization, and musica ficta