From Ancient Symbols to Modern Scores

Imagine a world where music was passed down purely by memory—no sheet music, no musical scores, just the brainpower of musicians hoping they remembered all the notes correctly. Yikes! If you were the one responsible for teaching your friends that new tune, you’d probably be the most popular person at the party… or the most feared. Thankfully, we no longer have to rely on our questionable memory skills to get a melody right.

Enter musical notation—the superhero of the music world! From ancient scribbles to the precise notation we use today, music notation has come a long way. So, let’s take a fun trip through time and see how those little squiggles on paper became the universal language that keeps musicians from completely losing their minds!

Musical notation, as we know it today, evolved over centuries, transforming from basic symbols to a sophisticated system that allows composers to communicate their musical ideas clearly and precisely. The journey toward modern music notation began long ago in ancient civilizations and took a significant leap during the Middle Ages.

But don’t worry—I’ll keep it brief!

In the 9th century, Guido of Arezzo, an Italian music theorist and Benedictine monk, is credited as the key figure in developing the earliest forms of modern musical notation. His innovations in staff notation allowed for more accurate transcription of music.

Guido D'Arezzo; Creater of music notes

Prior to this, early notation systems like neumes suggested pitch and rhythm but lacked precision.

Cistercian neumes, St. Denis/St. Evrault, North France, 12th century.

A neume is the basic building block of Western and some Eastern music notation systems before the five-line staff was invented.

The first neumes were like little squiggles that gave a rough idea of the tune's shape but didn’t nail down the exact notes or rhythms. Later on, they came up with heightened neumes to show how pitches related to each other, and eventually, they invented a four-line musical staff to pinpoint specific pitches.

Guido’s method, which initially employed a four-line staff, laid the foundation for future advancements, including the later addition of clefs and more precise rhythmic symbols.

Above is the piece of a song hand-written musical notation by J. S. Bach (1685–1750)

Piano learners may get the idea by looking at the horizontal lines and the dotted notes from this image.

Non-piano learners may be wondering what kind of language is that. For non-piano learners, the horizontal lines represent the clef.

A clef in music is like a symbol that tells you where the notes are on the music staff. Think of it as a "map key" for a treasure map—without it, you wouldn’t know where to find the notes!

Piano has two clefs: Treble and Bass. The Treble Clef is for your right hand, and the Bass Clef is for your left hand. This is also the simple yet brilliant idea behind the name 'PianoCleff'—because who needs extra confusion when your hands already have enough to do?

The founder of what is now considered the standard music staff was Guido d'Arezzo, an Italian Benedictine monk who lived from about 991 until after 1033. He taught solmization syllables using a hymn called 'Ut Queant Laxis,' written by the Lombard historian Paul the Deacon. Here's what he wrote...

1. Ut queant laxis

2. resonare fibris

3. Mira gestorum

4. famuli tuorum

5. Solve polluti

6. labii reatum

7. Sancte Iohannes

Guido used the first syllable of each line, Ut, Re, Mi, Fa, Sol, La, and Si, to read notated music in terms of hexachords; they were not note names, and each could, depending on context, be applied to any note.

This is now known as the Solfège notations "Do Re Mi Fa Sol La Ti Do" (for the octave)

Back in the 12th century, people started using more detailed ways to write down music, like mensural notation, which showed exact note lengths. By the time the Renaissance rolled around, composers could clearly jot down complex polyphonic tunes, totally transforming the music scene of that era.

Over time, the creation of the five-line staff and other tweaks really set the stage for Western music notation. It's still changing today, thanks to tech and digital tools that make it easier for musicians to write and share their tunes. The journey of musical notation highlights our cleverness in turning sound into something you can actually see, letting music be shared across generations.

Check out my next blog for different types of music notations used in different parts of the world.

Musically yours,

Pallavi K.