Hexachords, solmization, and musica ficta

Table of Contents

Preface

Foreword: Why learn hexachords?

1. The basic hexachord system and its origins

   1. Hucbald and the six-stringed lyre
   2. Guido's solmization syllables: Ut queant laxis
   3. The three standard hexachords: Musica recta
   4. Negotiating the gamut: Hexachord mutation
   5. Mapping the gamut: The Guidonian hand
   6. Signatures as gamut transpositions
   7. Inflections: Written and unwritten

2. Expanding the gamut: Musica ficta and "invented" hexachords

   1. What is musica ficta?: Two definitions
   2. Closest approach: A motivation for musica ficta
   3. New hexachords: Mi-signs and fa-signs
   4. Artistic choices and partial signatures
   5. Possible melodic factors

3. Renaissance and Manneristic approaches

   1. Ramos: Musica ficta and "understood" semitones
   2. Aaron: Of roads and signposts
   3. Accidentalism in practice: The tablatures
   4. Shortcuts: Fa supra la
   5. The later Renaissance / Manneristic era

4. Alternative solmizations: Ramos, Lippius, and beyond

   1. Ramos and the new hand (1482)
   2. Lippius and Belgic bocedization (1610, 1612)
   3. Variants on solmization: From do-re-mi to fa-so-la

Notes

Preface

The hexachord system, introduced and developed by Guido d'Arezzo and his colleagues in the 11th century, was a central element of musical practice and culture in medieval Europe, and continued to influence Renaissance and Manneristic practice through the early 17th century.

While rightly acclaimed as a very successful method for teaching the art of sight-reading, Guido's hexachord system more generally serves as a familiar framework from which to approach many issues of medieval and Renaissance composition and performance.

This FAQ article will first present the basic hexachord system and its origins; then medieval and Renaissance extensions of the system to permit a fuller set of accidentals; and finally some alternative systems proposed by Bartolomé Ramos (1482) and Johannes Lippius (1610, 1612) based on octaves rather than hexachords.

To Foreword - Why learn hexachords?

To Section 1 - The basic hexachord system and its origins.

To Early Music FAQ.