Ancient Written Music



STORY OF GUIDO DI AREZZO:-

 Around 1,000 AD many innovations in written music came to be. Though it isn’t clear who invented them, Guido di Arezzo is given most of the credit. He was a Benedictine monk who was thrown out of his monastery for his radical innovations in music. It’s believed that he didn’t invent the staff, but increased the lines from two to four.
 We’re lucky he got kicked out of the monastery because it caused his ideas to be spread more widely. After he had an audience with the Pope who recognized Guido’s skill, his monastery wanted him back.

 Guido di Arezzo was responsible for adding more lines to the staff, and he was also thought to have invented the Guidonian Hand, a system for singing together. He would point to specific places on his upraised hand which indicated a specific note. This allowed a large number of monks to sing together. 

MONOPHONIC AND POLYPHONIC MUSIC:-

 Up until this time most music was monophonic, which means it had only one part, usually vocal. All of the musical examples which survive from this time come from the church. There were popular secular (non- religious) musicians around at the time, but they weren’t writing down what they played and so there is almost no record of it.
An example of monophonic music is a type of song called a plainchant. Some of the first examples of written western music are plain chants. They sound more like inflection than singing and are still used in Roman Catholic churches today. Eventually, all those monks got bored with singing one-line music and began to add other parts. Music was becoming more complex.

Music with more than one part is called polyphonic music. Polyphonic music soon became popular in the monasteries but was difficult to write out.
 Because polyphonic music is more complex than monophonic music, it was necessary to add more lines to show the other voices. This is where Guido d’Arezzo comes in. He expanded the staff to four lines. Soon after that, a fifth line was added. Over the next five hundred years, composers experimented with different systems of writing music. It was written in elaborate shapes and some times with a six-line staff. By about 1500 we arrived at a system which has remained nearly unchanged until today.


 

4 line Staff
Heart-shaped Staff




TL;DR


  • Guidonian Hand:- In Medieval music, the Guidonian hand was a mnemonic device used to assist singers in learning to sight-sing. Some form of the device may have been used by Guido of Arezzo, a medieval music theorist who wrote several treatises, including one instructing singers in sightreading.

  • Monophonic Music:- Which means it had only one part, usually vocal. All of the musical examples which survive from this time come from the church. Eg. Plain Chant.

  • Polyphonic Music:- Music with more than one part is called polyphonic music.

QUESTIONS…

  1. Who expanded the staff to four lines?
  2. Who invented the Guidonian Hand?
  3. Who first used the Latin words to write music?

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