simple question about a term: when the same notes on different octave positions sound together

[juno987654321]

Those of you who know about music theory could probably answer this quite easily:
I'd like to know if there's a proper term for when I play the same note
on 3 or 4 octave positions together, e. g. C2, C3 and C4, all at the same time.
In sound design this happens quite often and I never know how to actually refer to whole thing that results from that as such.
Is this a chord or how do you define a chord?
The wikipedia says that chords must be at least 3 notes (and 2 notes would be called a sequence, wouldn't it?) and they'd also have to be on different pitches
but they're not clear about whether this case would also still count as such?
Those are the "same" notes, but on different pitches, aren't they?
So my guess is that there's a different term for it and you wouldn't call it a chord but something else?

[vurt]

sequences don't play at the same time, so any number of notes in the horizontal axis ie 1 2 3 4

vertical axis, chords.
1
2
3

2 notes is often referred to as an interval, or rather the distance between 2 notes.
im sure 2 notes "can" be a chord.
fifths on a guitar is often two notes, although the third can be added for weight.

your octave chord, i believe is a chord, using 3 note unison. (3 of the same note at diff octaves)


im sure jan will fix any mistakes in my post
but that's my basic understanding.

[vurt]

3 notes is a triad in case that helps btw.

[juno987654321]

Thanks! I confused "sequence" with "interval" (again). You're right! How embarrassing that I always mix up those 2 terms although it should be clear because there's a sequence in time involved with the sequences...

But I'm really unsure about if those from the theoretical musical department would call my example a chord. I have a feeling that there's a term for everything and someone will come up with it...

[imrae]

3 notes is a triad in case that helps btw.

The two-note equivalent is a dyad

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dyad_(music)

[vurt]

3 notes is a triad in case that helps btw.

The two-note equivalent is a dyad

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dyad_(music)

cheers!
i knew there was a word, but could not remember, was thinking greek, but knew bi-ad was wrong

[TribeOfHǫfuð]

I'd like to know if there's a proper term for when I play the same note
on 3 or 4 octave positions together, e. g. C2, C3 and C4, all at the same time.

It is called octave doubling and it is not a chord or triad in the usual sense, because you only have the
base tone of the chord and not a third (or a substitute, e.g. sus) and a fifth to complete the chord/triad.

[juno987654321]

It is called octave doubling and it is not a chord or triad in the usual sense, because you only have the
base tone of the chord and not a third (or a substitute, e.g. sus) and a fifth to complete the chord/triad.

That was my lucky guess! It's not really called a chord because it's basically just one note, right?
So "octave doubling" would be the correct name. OK!
A chord then is always something bigger in contents I suppose, where notes swing together that are at least 3 "relatives" but not just 2 or 3 twins, so to speak? (Sorry for the picture.)

[TribeOfHǫfuð]

Well, a chord or triad is very dependent on the second note after the root note, given you build your chord from the root and up. It Is either the 4th note in a chromatic scale (12 tones like a piano) by which the interval between root and the note is to become a minor “third” or the 5th note by which the interval becomes a major third. Then the fifth is usually added (8th note in a chromatic scale) and the chord or triad is said to be complete. If you have only two octaved root notes + either the fifth (8th note in chromatic scale) or the third (4th or 5th note), the triad is said to be incomplete. The third is what determine if a chord is called a minor or major chord.

The reason why the notes in a triad are called root, third and fifth is because you’d usually understand them in relation to diatonic scales, e.g. all the white keys from c2 to c3 on a piano, where they will have positions of the first, third and the fifth note in the diatonic scale. I chose chromatic scale here to illustrate their position on a piano,though.

Unfortunately, I am not a teacher but try wiki the terms that may seem too implicit to you, it may help getting some essentials.

Kind Regard
Gothi
ToH

[juno987654321]

So you're saying that a chord is not just any 3 different notes being played together but there MUST (at least) always be a third and also a fifth besides the root note in it? Correct?

So if I play C, D and G together this is NOT a chord then because the D is no third away from its root C if your definition is right?
I read somewhere that a chord must be something that sounds harmonic.
So C, E flat, G would be a chord, I'm sure.
But I'm not 100% sure now about C, G, B? It also sounds harmonic and it has 3 different notes, though there is no third in it. Is it an incomplete one, too, or does the B make it complete enough?

What would you call the combination of C, D, G then? Is it really not a chord any more, just because of the D? But the D is still a fifth away from the G, so maybe it's still harmonic enough to make everything worthy enough to still be called a chord?
If it can't be called a chord, but also not an interval because we have 3 notes being played together and not just 2, then does this combination not deserve any name any more, then? Poor one!

Anyways, at least I understood that C2, C3 and C4 being played together is not to be called a chord, because it's not enough to make a chord.

[jancivil]

"a chord is not just any 3 different notes being played together but there MUST (at least) always be a third and also a fifth besides the root note in it? Correct?"

Ok, some do have that opinion. I don't share it personally. There are chords built on fourths, on seconds, on fifths. There are more complex things said of vertical sound aggregates than that as well. EG: A E B C G D; there is more than one path to building that. It can be said to be two stacks of P5ths with a disjunction at a minor second or semitone. It can be said to be Am7 9 11. OTOH there are things which cannot be explained but the one way; a simple triad is one, but note this example from Satie le fils des étoile:

le fils.jpg

We can try to call it by thirds but it's rather tortured. EG: C F Bb Eb A D. No extra assumptions needed to say 'mixed fourths'. Bb D F A C (Eb) is a ^7 9 add 11 on Bb (9th in the bass! Yow!) but it sounds how it sounds, distinctively. It doesn't sound like Bb^7. The idea is what it is, mixed fourths, Occam's Razor and all that.
I default to saying 'chords' for it.

[jancivil]

In hard rock types of music, there is a thing everybody calls 'the power chord', which is root, P5, octave. Or maybe just the P5 on a root.
In Zappa there is a prevalence of what he called 'the 2 chord' where instead of any 3rd there is a major second in its place.
C G D is a certain spacing of that construction but now the simplest 'explanation' is two P5s. Not really a qualitative difference in those names, whatever gets the idea across if you have to have someone follow or replicate it.

[TribeOfHǫfuð]

So if I play C, D and G together this is NOT a chord then because the D is no third away from its root C if your definition is right?

Well, it actually is a chord, because the third can be substituted when you use mediating chords, that is, chords that you do not start or end the song with but mediate movements from one complete chord to another. C, D, and G is a chord where you have replaced the third with D (called the ninth). It is an incomplete triad/harmony, neither minor nor major, but it has a tension that is good when using it as a mediating chord to get from one complete triad to another or when making tonal movements within the chord themselves.

The definitions and principles given here are those of basic composition within classical music, but when we get into modern rock, Jazz or experimental genres, chords get very complex and will not always rely that heavily on the third as @Jan points out. However, we are not ready to go there yet in my little lesson, you'd get dizzy then. So lets stick to the basics and move on from there.

Now, there is also much older music than the classical music from which we derive the basic for chord progressions today. My bandmate and I use techniques of medieval music where you use a lot of open intervals (intervals without thirds) such as fifthts, octaves and forths but no thirds apart from when the melody runs through it. We also use so called parallel movements of fifths and octaves, which later became close to forbidden in common sense harmony, so our own music do not rely on modern chord music, but mainly harmonization (e.g. making second voices to a melody that follows same rhythm as the first) and polyphony (mixing two or more different melodies into the same musical progression -a cadence).

If the last part here is too hairy, forget it and concentrate on the first part.

Kind Regards
ToH

[Michael L]

In respose to the OP, I would say it depends on your usage, what term makes your idea clear. You could call it unison when e.g. a violin plays the same pitch on two strings, and when different orchestral instruments or choral voices play or sing the same note octaves apart; but when describing that interval say on a piano, an octave interval is called a perfect octave, P8 (or A7 ha ha); or you could say you are playing (e.g a note or melody) in octaves, or adding an octave (e.g. to strengthen a note in a melody or a chord) sometimes called doubling. To me they are all slightly different ideas

[TribeOfHǫfuð]

My bandmate and I use techniques of medieval music where you use a lot of open intervals (intervals without thirds) such as fifthts, octaves and forths but no thirds apart from when the melody runs through it.

Oops. Not entirely true. Our rhythm guitars are at full chords, however, they are embedded in effects and have a more percussive than tonal effect, so it does not make much difference.