What is "hexachord"

Hexachord \Hex"a*chord\, n. [Hexa- + Gr. ? string, chord: cf. F. hexacorde.] (Mus.) A series of six notes, with a semitone between the third and fourth, the other intervals being whole tones.

n. (context music English) A series of six tones denoted with the syllables ut-re-mi-fa-sol-la separated by seconds, the only of which that is a minor second being mi-fa.

In music, a hexachord (also hexachordon) is a six- note series, as exhibited in a scale or tone row. The term was adopted in this sense during the Middle Ages and adapted in the 20th century in Milton Babbitt's serial theory. The word is taken from the , compounded from ἕξ (hex, six) and χορδή (chordē, string [of the lyre], whence "note"), and was also the term used in music theory up to the 18th century for the interval of a sixth ("hexachord major" being the major sixth and "hexachord minor" the minor sixth).