noun
- Plural of hexachord; a series of six musical notes or tones, especially in medieval and Renaissance music theory.
Usage: music theory; historical
Examples
- Medieval music theorists used hexachords as a fundamental teaching tool for understanding pitch relationships.
- The hexachords in Guido of Arezzo's system helped singers learn to read musical notation.
- Students of Renaissance music often study the three overlapping hexachords: natural, hard, and soft.
- Hexachords were essential to the solmization system used in early Western music education.