What does the "Phi" sign stand for in musical notation?
I have encountered this symbol:
F sharp "phi"
Any idea what should be played here?
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It's a half diminished chord. Otherwise known as m7b5. So F#ø will be F#, A, C, E, as F# = root, A = m3, C = b5 and E = m7. It's close to 'phi' but isn't exactly. Can't remember what it's actually called - and worse, can't find it on a qwerty board.
That is the sign for a half diminished chord.
Half-diminished seventh chords are often symbolized as a circle with a
diagonal line through it, as in Cø. It also can be represented as
m7?5, -7?5, m7(?5) etc.
The terms and symbols for this chord break expectations that derive
from the usual system of chord nomenclature. Normally a symbol like
"Bdim" indicates a diminished triad and "B7" indicates a major triad
plus a minor seventh. Thus one would expect the term "Bdim7" to
indicate a diminished triad plus a minor seventh. Instead, it means a
diminished triad plus a diminished seventh. To make this distinction
clear, the term "half-diminished" and the ø symbol (ø) were invented.
Since the term dim7 (as in Bdim7) meant something else, the accurate
but unwieldy term "minor seventh flat five" (as in Bø7))(About this
sound Play (help·info)) came to be used.[5]
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