All Questions
39
questions
0
votes
1
answer
135
views
When was music notation first used? [duplicate]
When was the first time someone wrote music in the way we use it today (on a stave)? Was this the first way people ever wrote music or did they do something else before that? (such as just writing the ...
- 193
10
votes
8
answers
467
views
To what extent does musical notation constrain human musical creation?
I am interested in the question of how musical notation has influenced human musical creation, especially in a "restrictive" way.
In particular, are there some kind of musics which are not ...
- 221
9
votes
3
answers
945
views
Is this a tenor clef?
My wind band is playing Saint-Saens' Pas Redouble, using the Josneau arrangement published by Evette & Schaeffer. It's on IMSLP. The bassoon part is mostly in bass clef, but occasionally uses a ...
- 193
2
votes
0
answers
54
views
Why is G the lowest note of the Gamut? [duplicate]
The Gamut made use of the seven letters of Saint Gregory: A, B, C, D, E, F, and G. It represents the twenty notes of “true music” (musica recta), from low G to high e2.
Why was the lowest note in ...
- 981
1
vote
1
answer
61
views
Origins of musical stave notations [closed]
I was wondering whether anyone knows the history of how the notations for clefs, sharps, flats, naturals, notes, and pauses, and their locations of the stave, took place.
How were these shapes ...
2
votes
1
answer
338
views
The definition, and the origin of this sign notation "x"
Here is an example of the double sharp (within the red mark) from Liszt Les Preludes, see below.
I suppose this notation "x" is called double sharp.
Questions:
What are (1) the definition, ...
- 921
8
votes
3
answers
1k
views
Instances of note beams across measures
How rare was it, in classical and romantic periods, for composers to notate eighth note and sixteenth note beams across measures? Are there examples from composers other than Schubert?
In two of ...
- 265
11
votes
2
answers
784
views
Why do notes have stems?
How is it that stems became a part of standard music notation?
I was genuinely unable to find an answer to this anywhere on the internet - I couldn't even find an instance of anyone asking the ...
- 61
3
votes
3
answers
751
views
Why is the usual clef for guitar G clef?
Analyzing by two parameters, polyphony and range, music written for guitar should use two clefs, G and F. Usually, solo guitar has a polyphonic expression. Writing two melodies in a single stave could ...
- 169
9
votes
3
answers
457
views
Was a 13-line (6 over 7) staff system ever in wide use?
On the Wikipedia article for Passacaglia, there is an excerpt of a piece by 17th-century composer Bernardo Storace. It has a 6-line staff with both G and C clefs above a 7 line staff with both C and ...
- 2,993
4
votes
0
answers
159
views
What was the first published "cutaway/cut-out" score?
Sometimes scores are formatted so that silent measures are completely omitted—not just left empty, but left blank, including the staff. The oldest score in this style that I have seen is Lutosławski's ...
- 369
7
votes
1
answer
235
views
Which came first: the dot or the tie?
In considering the question of the benefits of dots versus ties for extending note values, I got to wondering about the origins of those two notations.
Did one emerge before the other?
For what ...
- 91.3k
4
votes
1
answer
370
views
What is the origin of the notation A4, B3, F5, etc. (i.e. <letter><number>)
Long before I started to play an instrument I used to tune my young son's guitar for him using a device which told me how close the strings were to the correct notes of E2, A2, D3, G3, B3 and E4.
When ...
- 5,630
8
votes
3
answers
989
views
How did the ancient Greeks notate their music?
Ancient Greece had a sophisticated musical system that allowed for transposable modes and flexible instrument tunings. Known as the Greater Perfect System, it is discussed in detail in What are the ...
- 91.3k
2
votes
1
answer
188
views
Why is the Proper Sarum mode notated differently than it sounds (in the Yattendon hymnal)?
For context, image 1 is where I found this tune in another hymnal, and it looks like a sort of free-flowing attempt at notating (in standard notation) how a choir or congregation would sing. Images 2 ...
- 3,442