Music Essay, Research Paper

For a very long time music was not written down. It was sung

or played from memory. As it was passed on from person to person,

many changes crept into the tunes. A way of writing music down

was needed so that it would be sung or played exactly as it had been

composed. The name for written music that man developed is

notation.

The system of musical notation generally used today is the

result of centuries of development- from about the end of the ninth

century to the early 1700’s. This development began in the

cathedrals in monasteries of the Roman Catholic Church.

Since many of the Church’s services were sung, they were

sung from memory. Towards the end of the ninth century dots and

dashes and squiggles were written over the words in the church

books. These signs, called neumes, showed the direction in which

the melody should go. But they were still very vague.

About 900 A.D. the music was made a little easier to read.

The neumes were written at certain distances above or below the

horizontal red line, representing the note F, to show how high or low

the note should be sung.

Then the staff was invented by a monk called Guido d’Arezzo.

This was made of four lines. A method of notation that made it

possible to show the length of each note was developed in the

thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. Notes took new shapes and

stems were added to some notes according to their length. By the

1600’s the notes had become round and musical notation began to

look like it does today.

Today music is written and printed in a picture language. This

language of notation indicates the pitch of the tones, their place in a

sequence of tones, their duration (the length of time a tone is held),

and the composer’s ideas about how they should be played. Notes

are written signs that represent tones (musical sounds). The notes

appear on a staff, a set of five horizontal lines. The higher the

composer places the note, the higher its pitch. The order in which he

places it, from left to right, indicates its place in a sequence of notes.

The shape of a note shows its time value.

A clef sign at the left end of a staff determines the position of

notes on the staff. The treble clef is often called the G clef because

its sign fixes the G above middle C on the second line from the

bottom of the staff. The bass clef, often called the F clef, fixes the F

below middle C on the second line from the top of the staff. Higher

notes, such as those for the right end of the piano, appear in the

treble clef. Lower notes appear in the bass clef. Music for the viola

is written in the alto clef, and music written for the trombone,

bassoon, and cello sometimes appears in the tenor clef.

A key signature appears at the right of the clef sign. By using

sharp signs or flat signs, the composer indicates that certain notes

should always be played sharp or flat. In this way, he shows the key

of his work. Key signatures take from one to seven sharp or flat

signs.

The composer may place an accidental in front of a certain

note. Accidentals are the signs for sharp, flat , or natural that show a

change from the key signature. Any note not marked sharp or flat is

called natural. The natural sign cancels the sharp or flat.

The evolution of musical notation covers many years. It is

fortunate that this picture language was developed. Today music is

written so that it can be played and sung as the composer intended.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Another Tell Me Why, Arkady Leokum, Grosset & Dunlap, New

York, 1977

Compton’s Interactive Encyclopedia, CD ROM, Compton’s New

Media, Inc., 1995

The World Book Encyclopedia Vol. 13, Field Enterprises

Educational Corp., 1965