1. Romanesque: The Origins of Notation Flashcards
Which centuries may be described as the Early Middle Ages?
5th to 11th (AD) centuries.
When was the Carolingian era?
9th to 10th (AD) centuries.
What early examples of notation are there in classic antiquity?
A 2nd century Greek Hymn to Apollo as well as early ideas of notation.
When are the first signs of notation as we know it today?
820 - 840AD
How was music performed before notation?
Completely memorised - passed down aurally between generations and from town to town.
What was the capacity for memorisation like?
Widespread illiteracy and the fact that the production of manuscripts was confined to monasteries meant that oral transmission of music was common.
What was the foundation for notation?
A series of signs, called ‘neumes’, were placed above the text and developed to serve as a memory aid for the choirmasters and singers. Over time, the height of neumes began to represent the pitch of the note to be sung.
Name 3 types of Neumes.
The punctum (a dot), the virga (vertical or oblique line) and ligatures (squiggles of diverse forms in which several pitches were bound together).
What did the addition of a line throughout the neumes mean?
This gave all of the neumes a pitch relative to their distance from the line, making the notation more accurate. The pitch was originally an F, because of the semitone gap between F and E in the key of C Major (making it obvious to the singer where the semitone is). The next line added was a C, for the same reason.
Who is regarded as the inventor of modern notation?
Guido of Arezzo, a monk in Italy around the 10th century, experienced the difficulties faced by monks and clergy memorising the chant repertory in his monastery.
How did Guido of Arezzo shape modern notation?
He devised a stave of four horizontal lines, which proved to be a distinctive feature of the Western Musical tradition and also was hugely influential for musical composition.
How did the new four stave system help develop polyphony?
As well as the more accurate notation of pitch, the stave allowed for the clear alignment of simultaneously sounding pitches, which made it an important graphic tool for the notation of early polyphony.
How did Pope Gregory claim to discover the Gregorian Chant repertoire?
He says a holy spirit visited him in the form of a bird who sang him the entire repertoire.
Why were monasteries involved in neumes so much?
Other than having to sing the music, books were mainly copied out by hand in monasteries and as music began to become notated, so were neumes.
How long does Howard Goodall’s book state the length of all the pieces the monks had to remember were?
They add up to over 80 hours, the total of every piece by Beethoven and Vagner combined.
