The development of notation

Though there are some illustrations showing musicians reading written music, it was most unlikely that this was common practice in the early medieval period. The only musicians who were likely to receive any formal tuition in reading and writing notation would have been working in important religious establishments such as abbeys and cathedrals. Even these musicians would only have used the music notation as a memory aid. The notation of early medieval music was not such a precise art that the music could be transmitted solely in written form, and church singers receiving a manuscript would still have relied on being taught by ear. This would remain the case until the 12th century when important advances were made in the notation of music.

This manuscript features a hymn to John the Baptist, 11th century.

The notation shows the unheightened neumes of early medieval music. Neumes are symbols given over the words that signify movement and contour in the melody. Some letters would be used to signify other aspects of performance such as 'C' indicating a brief increase of speed and 'T' indicating the the syllable should be held back, and here we see early attempts to suggest rhythmic movement. The neumes are called 'unheightened' as there is no attempt to position the notes with relation to their pitch.

There are two ways in which these early neumes can be interpreted. Firstly, educated reconstruction could produce a workable impression of how the melody may have sounded. In this case, however, it is very possible that many of the notes could become a semitone, a tone or an even larger interval removed from the original. The second and more reliable method would be to search for the same song surviving in later medieval notation. The early medieval unheightened neumes can be compared to the later 'pitched' neumes, given on staves (as in the example shown below). By the 13th century, manuscripts often include information concerning the rhythm of the music as well. If two versions of the same song can be found, then the later manuscript can be used as a 'Rosetta Stone' to help determine what the earlier neumes mean and how they can be interpreted. The main problem here is a possible 'Chinese whispers' effect where the music may have evolved slowly over the intervening years.

Neumes became more sophisticated after the turn of the first millenium, eventually becoming 'heightened' neumes. These neumes are positioned higher or lower on the page to indicate pitch. There is however no stave yet; the stave appeared during the 12th century beginning only with one line, then two. The examples given below are, firstly, a tonary from the 11th century depicting heightened neumes with no stave and, secondly, the troubadour song Can vei la lauzeta by Bernart de Ventadorn showing a four-line stave of the 13th century.

This 13th century manuscript features the song Orientis Partibus. The music is in three-part harmony, is given on a four line stave, and features several single notes (punctum) with the occasional joining together of two notes.

The pitches are clearly notated. The letters 'C' and 'F' at the start of each stave are clefs so the opening chord would be C G c. The rhythm is not so clear, though it probably followed the rhythmic conventions of the period. In the 13th century there were six rhythmic modes that could be used to define the rhythmic shape of a melody; the rhythm here is probably a compound rhythm of a long note followed by a short (rhythmic mode 1), as in the popular Christmas carol We Three Kings.

The notation of the late medieval period and 16th century continues the development of the stave. The five line stave is more common but, most importantly, there are different note shapes to indicate rhythm. However, bar lines are not used in the same way as we might use them - they are used here to mark the end of phrases rather than to divide the music into neat and small rhythmic patterns.

The curious little marks at the end of each stave inform the singer what the first note of the next stave is.

This piece of music is a page from a Kyrie Eleison, a chant from the mass sung in church. This music is in four parts, though only two are shown here (the treble and tenor).

 

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