The Evolution of Musical Notation
Epitaph of Seikilos
Earliest record of written music
1st century B.C.
Written on a tombstone
Music notation begins above the 6th line of the lyrics
The first 15 letters of the Greek alphabet were used to notate music
Length of notes were denoted by the direction the letter faced
Ancient Greece
Music notation well established by 500 B.C.
Based off of a tetrachords four notes, descending, spanning intervals of a fourth
Diatonic (a)
Chromatic (b)
Enharmonic (c)
Later notation and Chant
After this ancient period, there is no record of music notation until the 9th century
Chant music was based on signs and symbols known as neumes
Neumes show pitches or group of pitches in a melody
Also showed the rise and fall of the notes in the melody
Did NOT denote pitch or rhythm
Neumes developed into a complex system of notation that used individual neumes as single notes or as many as four notes in a particular sequence
Neumes
Look at chart on the back
Heighted Neumes
Def: Neumes whose pitch relationship is represented on a page
10th century
Now could identify intervals
Horizontal line used to fix an absolute pitch as reference
Two Line Notation
Same as single line neume notation but with two lines
The lines represented the pitches C and F
C and F represented the beginning and middle of an 8 note scale
Guido of Arrezo
Italian Monk who suggested the use of four horizontal lines
11th and 12th centuries
Placed letters at the beginnings of the lines in their appropriate places for pitch reference (later became the names of the various clefs)
Also created a device for students to use for singing called the Guidonian hand to help them remember a particular pitch
This device uses the entire hand
Franco of Cologne
First to try and notate note values (lengths of notes)
Based on sets of three (triple meter)
Long notes were equal to three of the shorter value
Neumes with length notation were called ligatures
Franconian Notation
Long = 
Breve = 
Semibreve = 
Petronian Notation
Petrus de Cruce (Pierre de la Croix) refined the Franconian system
Allowed for greater subdivision of the breve
minim divides semibreve into thirds or halfs
semiminim always equal to half a minim
Petronian Notation Chart
minim = 
semiminim = 
Philippe de Vitry
Created the Ars Nova
Expanded the Franconian system
Wrote the notes in a circle or half circle
14th century
15th - 17th Centuries
Modern time signatures were created
Bar lines, expression signs, Italian terms for tempo and dynamics were introduced in the 17th century
Major and minor modes and key signatures created
Modern Notation
By 1700 staves using five lines are official
Accidentals are introduced
Contemporary Notation
The 20th century marked a new turn in music
Extra musical sounds (screams with bows, horse whines with trumpets, harmonics with reed instruments)
New notations with squiggly lines and weird dynamics
