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The Magic Chord is a chord and installation (1984) created by La Monte Young, consisting of the pitches E, F, A, B♭, D, E, G, and A, in ascending order and used in works including his The Well-Tuned Piano and Chronos Kristalla (1990). The latter was performed by the Kronos Quartet and features all notes of the magic chord as harmonics on open strings. The quartet has been described as, "offer perhaps the ultimate challenge in performing in a just environment".

Described as, "complex and throbbing", the chord does not contain its fundamental (see root chords), E♭, and is a subset of the Romantic Chord, G-Dorian in eight octaves, spelled G, A, B, C, D, E, F♯, G. "When the Magic Opening Chord is obtained by playing the Opening Chord at one end of a room while the Magic Chord is played at the other (as Young set it up for me), the feeling-changes of the stereo effect as you move back and forthare dazzling." The opening chord consists of E♭, B♭, C, E♭, F, B♭ (ratios 4:6:7:8:9:12 Play), adding C and E♭ to the magic chord when combined as the magic opening chord (Play).

The Well-Tuned Piano is based on a pitch lattice of perfect fifths and harmonic sevenths, tuned as follows:

For example, G (21/16) is the harmonic seventh of the perfect fifth (7/4 * 3/2 = 21/16):

References

1. ^ Grimshaw, Jeremy (2011). Draw A Straight Line and Follow It: The Music and Mysticism of La Monte Young, p. 176. ISBN 978-0-19-974020-8.
2. Gann 1993, p. 162.
3. Gann 1993, p. 143.
4. Strange, Patricia and Strange, Allen (2001). The Contemporary Violin: Extended Performance Techniques, p. 160. ISBN 978-0-520-22409-4.
5. ^ Duckworth 2009, p. 187
6. Potter 2002, p. 86.
7. Potter 2002, pp. 85–86.
8. Duckworth 2009, p. 168.
9. Potter 2002, p. 87.
10. Gann, Kyle (1997). "La Monte Young's The Well-Tuned Piano"
11. Duckworth 2009, p. 166.

Sources

• Duckworth, William (2009). Sound and Light: La Monte Young and Marian Zazeela. Associated University Presse. ISBN 978-0-8387-5738-3.
• Gann, Kyle (1993). "La Monte Young's The Well-Tuned Piano". Perspectives of New Music. 31 (1): 134–162. doi:10.2307/833045. JSTOR 833045. (subscription required)
• Potter, Keith (2002). Four Musical Minimalists: La Monte Young, Terry Riley, Steve Reich, Philip Glass. Cambridge. ISBN 9780521015011.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)

v t e Chords
By form	Triad Major Minor Augmented Diminished Suspended Seventh Leading-tone Major Minor Dominant Dominant seventh flat five Diminished Half-diminished Diminished major Minor-major Augmented major Augmented minor Altered seventh Nondominant Harmonic seventh Extended Ninth Eleventh Thirteenth Upper structure Dominant 7♯9 Polychord Tone cluster Added / omitted Sixth Augmented sixth Lydian Seven six Specific Alpha Bridge Complexe sonore Dream Elektra Farben Grandmother Magic Mystic Northern lights Petrushka Psalms So What Tristan Viennese trichord General Mixed interval Secundal Tertian Quartal Synthetic chord Tetrad
By function	Diatonic Tonic Supertonic Mediant Subdominant Dominant Submediant Leading tone / Subtonic Altered Approach Borrowed Chromatic mediant Neapolitan Passing Secondary Secondary dominant Secondary leading-tone Secondary supertonic Other Common Contrast Primary triad Subsidiary Substitute
Techniques	Barre Block Chordioid Chord-scale system Guitar Open Power Slash
Other	Arpeggio Chord names and symbols List of chords Factor

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