Editing Medieval music (section)

===Notation===
During the medieval period the foundation was laid for the notational and theoretical practices that would shape Western music into the norms that developed during the [[Common practice period|common practice era]]. The most obvious of these is the development of a comprehensive [[music notation]]al system; however the theoretical advances, particularly in regard to rhythm and polyphony, are equally important to the development of Western music.

[[File:Gregorian Chant Kyrie.svg|frame|A sample of [[Kyrie|Kýrie Eléison]] XI (Orbis Factor) from the ''Liber Usualis''. The modern "neumes" on the staff above the text indicate the pitches of the [[melody]]. [//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cc/Kyrie_XI_%28Orbis_Factor%29_sample.ogg Listen] to it interpreted.]]
The earliest medieval music did not have any kind of notational system. The tunes were primarily monophonic (a single [[melody]] without [[accompaniment]]) and transmitted by oral tradition.{{sfn|Hoppin|1978|p=57}}  As Rome tried to centralize the various liturgies and establish the Roman rite as the primary church tradition the need to transmit these chant melodies across vast distances effectively was equally glaring.{{sfn|Seay|1965|p=41}} So long as music could only be taught to people "by ear," it limited the ability of the church to get different regions to sing the same melodies, since each new person would have to spend time with a person who already knew a song and learn it "by ear." The first step to fix this problem came with the introduction of various signs written above the chant texts to indicate direction of pitch movement, called ''[[neumes]]''.{{sfn|Hoppin|1978|p=57}}

The origin of ''neumes'' is unclear and subject to some debate; however, most scholars agree that their closest ancestors are the classic Greek and Roman grammatical signs that indicated important points of declamation by recording the rise and fall of the voice.{{sfn|Parrish|1957|p=4}} The two basic signs of the classical grammarians were the ''acutus'', /, indicating a raising of the voice, and the ''gravis'', \, indicating a lowering of the voice. A singer reading a chant text with neume markings would be able to get a general sense of whether the melody line went up in pitch, stayed the same, or went down in pitch. Since trained singers knew the chant repertoire well, written neume markings above the text served as a reminder of the melody but did not specify the actual intervals.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Parrish |first1=Carl |title=The Notation of Medieval Music |date=1978 |publisher=W.W. Norton/Pendragon Press |location=New York |page=9 |edition=Pendragon}}</ref> However, a singer reading a chant text with neume markings would not be able to [[sight read]] a song which he or she had never heard sung before; these pieces would not be possible to interpret accurately today without later versions in more precise notation systems.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Parrish |first1=Carl |title=The Notation of Medieval Music |date=1978 |publisher=W.W. Norton/Pendragon Press |location=New York |page=9 |edition=Pendragon}}</ref>

These neumes eventually evolved into the basic symbols for ''neumatic'' notation, the ''virga'' (or "rod") which indicates a higher note and still looked like the ''acutus'' from which it came; and the ''punctum'' (or "dot") which indicates a lower note and, as the name suggests, reduced the ''gravis'' symbol to a point.{{sfn|Parrish|1957|p=4}} Thus the ''acutus'' and the ''gravis'' could be combined to represent graphical vocal inflections on the syllable.{{sfn|Parrish|1957|p=4}} This kind of notation seems to have developed no earlier than the eighth century, but by the ninth it was firmly established as the primary method of musical notation.{{sfn|Hoppin|1978|p=58}} The basic notation of the ''virga'' and the ''punctum'' remained the symbols for individual notes, but other ''neumes'' soon developed which showed several notes joined. These new ''neumes''—called ligatures—are essentially combinations of the two original signs.{{sfn|Parrish|1957|p=5}}

The first music notation was the use of dots over the lyrics to a chant, with some dots being higher or lower, giving the reader a general sense of the direction of the melody. However, this form of notation only served as a memory aid for a singer who already knew the melody.{{sfn|Seay|1965|p=40}} This basic ''neumatic'' notation could only specify the number of notes and whether they moved up or down. There was no way to indicate exact pitch, any rhythm, or even the starting note. These limitations are further indication that the ''neumes'' were developed as tools to support the practice of oral tradition, rather than to supplant it. However, even though it started as a mere memory aid, the worth of having more specific notation soon became evident.{{sfn|Hoppin|1978|p=58}}

The next development in musical notation was "heighted ''neumes''", in which ''neumes'' were carefully placed at different heights in relation to each other. This allowed the ''neumes'' to give a rough indication of the size of a given interval as well as the direction. This quickly led to one or two lines, each representing a particular note, being placed on the music with all of the ''neumes'' relating to the earlier ones. At first, these lines had no particular meaning and instead had a letter placed at the beginning indicating which note was represented. However, the lines indicating middle C and the F a fifth below slowly became most common. Having been at first merely scratched on the parchment, the lines now were drawn in two different colored inks: usually red for F, and yellow or green for C. This was the beginning of the musical staff.{{sfn|Hoppin|1978|pp=59–60}} The completion of the four-line staff is usually credited to [[Guido of Arezzo|Guido d'Arezzo]] ({{circa|1000}}–1050), one of the most important musical theorists of the Middle Ages. While older sources attribute the development of the staff to Guido, some modern scholars suggest that he acted more as a codifier of a system that was already being developed. Either way, this new notation allowed a singer to learn pieces completely unknown to him in a much shorter amount of time.{{sfn|Seay|1965|p=41}}{{sfn|Hoppin|1978|p=60}} However, even though chant notation had progressed in many ways, one fundamental problem remained: rhythm. The ''neumatic'' notational system, even in its fully developed state, did not clearly define any kind of rhythm for the singing of notes.{{sfn|Hoppin|1978|p=89}}