3º E.S.O. MUSIC
Musical script
In the beginning the chants were learnt by the viva voce method. Later, in the 10th century, the first written repertoire appeared.
The earliest notation used symbols called neumes: symbols that approximately reflect the pitch and duration of sound and whose writing derived from the movement of the hand when conducting the singing.
Guido d'Arezzo
In the 11th century, Guido d’Arezzo make some changes:
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The neumes of Gregorian chant start to be written on a four-line staff, the tetragram with a clef.
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Also he invented the name of the notes.
Square notation
Towards the year 1150, 12th century, the neumes adopted a more defined form: the Square Notation. The square shape of the notes is due to the fact that they were written with goose-cut feathers that, instead of a point, left a small square as the head of the figures.
The rhythmic modes
Along with square writing in the 12th century, the rhythmic modes appear that constitute the first attempts to set the musical rhythm in writing by combining a series of rhythmic patterns.
Franco of Cologne and the first musical figures:
For his part, Franco from Cologne in the thirteenth century invented the first musical figures, which progressively increased in number. Also in this century the use of the pentagram was consolidated.
