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HEXACHORDS
Renaissance music theory did not use scales the way
modern theory does. To understand how renaissance musicians
played music on a consort of flutes it's important to
understand the way they grouped the notes into overlapping
patterns of six, called hexachords. The hexachords made
fingering different sizes of flute (discant, alto/tenor,
and bass) easier, as well as transposing consort music
so that it would fit on a set of flutes. See also
MODES.
The hexachords and the renaissance flute (Ardal
Powell TRAVERSO,
January 1999)
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