Definition
Modern notation (staff, clefs, note values, bar lines) is the result of roughly a thousand years of evolution. Knowing its stages explains many oddities we still use today: why the treble clef has the shape of a G, why 4/4 is marked with a C, why the notes are called Do, Re, Mi.
The main stages
| Era | System | What it shows |
|---|---|---|
| 9th century | adiastematic neumes (signs above the Latin text) | only the contour of the melody (rising, falling, ornament), not exact pitches |
| 10th–11th century | diastematic neumes (placed at different heights) | approximate intervals |
| 11th century | staff lines and clefs (Guido of Arezzo) | exact pitches: a red line for F, a yellow one for C |
| 12th–13th century | square notation on a four-line staff (tetragram) | pitches; rhythm is implicit in the “rhythmic modes” |
| late 13th–16th century | mensural notation (black, then white) | precise proportional durations: maxima, longa, brevis, semibrevis, minima |
| 17th century | five-line staff, regular bar lines, key signatures | the modern system, almost complete |
Guido of Arezzo and the names of the notes
The monk Guido of Arezzo (early 11th century) introduced three ideas we still use:
- horizontal lines to fix pitches, with a letter at the beginning of the staff (clefs come from here: the G clef is a stylized G, the F clef an F, the C clef a C);
- the syllables Ut, Re, Mi, Fa, Sol, La, taken from the initial syllables of the lines of a hymn to Saint John the Baptist in which each line began one step higher;
- the Guidonian hand, a mnemonic system that assigned the notes to the joints of the fingers.
In the seventeenth century the syllable Ut was replaced by Do, which is easier to sing; Si was added to complete the octave.
The hexachords
The Guidonian system was not based on the octave but on groups of six notes, the hexachords, all with the same structure whole step–whole step–half step–whole step–whole step (the half step always between Mi and Fa):
- natural hexachord: from C (C D E F G A)
- hard hexachord: from G (G A B C D E), with the “hard” B (natural), drawn square
- soft hexachord: from F (F G A Bb C D), with the “soft” B (flat), drawn round
The natural sign derives from the square B, the flat from the round B: our accidental signs were born this way. Moving from one hexachord to another was called mutation.
Mensural notation
With polyphony, precise durations were needed. The mensural system established ratios between the note values: a breve could be worth three semibreves (perfect time, symbol: a circle) or two (imperfect time, symbol: a semicircle). Our C sign for 4/4 and the cut C for 2/2 derive precisely from the semicircle of imperfect time, not from the initial of “common time”. Note heads were first filled in (black notation) and from the 15th century hollow (white notation): this is why whole notes and half notes are still “white” today.
Practical rules for study
- When you read early music in a modern edition, check whether the editor has reduced the values (breves often become whole notes or half notes).
- Bar lines in Renaissance music are almost always an editorial addition: the music was conceived for voices, not for bars.
- Gregorian chant is still written in square notation on a four-line staff with movable C and F clefs.
Typical errors
- Thinking that 4/4 is written “C” because of “common time”: the origin is medieval.
- Reading neumes as exact pitches: the oldest ones were only reminders for those who already knew the melody.
- Treating Do and Ut as synonyms in every context: in solmization Ut marks the first degree of the hexachord, which can be C, G or F.
Examples
- Modern editions of Gregorian chant (Graduale, Liber usualis) still show square neumes.
- The masses of Josquin and Palestrina were written in white mensural notation, in separate parts (choirbooks), not in score.
- Ockeghem’s Missa prolationum exploits the different mensural signs to have the same melody sung at different speeds.
How to use it in composition
- Writing “early” or liturgical music: use long values, few bar lines, and C clefs for the inner voices if the performer is used to them.
- The Guidonian syllables and the idea of the hexachord are a movable-do solmization tool, useful for memorizing modal melodies.
- The play of mensural ratios (3:2, 2:1) is the basis of many modern rhythmic ideas: metric modulation, polyrhythm, canons at different speeds.
Exercise
- Write the natural, hard and soft hexachords and circle the Mi–Fa pair in each.
- Transcribe a simple Gregorian melody from the four-line staff to the modern five-line staff, without bar lines.
- Rewrite a phrase in 3/2 as if it were in “perfect time” and compare it with the same phrase in 2/2.
Related topics
Staff and clefs; Note names and octave numbering; Accidentals; Solfège; Church modes; Time signatures: simple and compound meters.