notation.

The term musical notation can be applied to any formal indication of how sounds and silences intended as
music should be reproduced. Major variations in notation arise with dramatic changes of date or provenance,
but decisive technical variations can also occur according to the performance medium (orchestral, electronic,
keyboard, vocal, etc.), the style or genre (cadenza, symphony, blues, etc.), the circumstances of the
performer (Braille notation, elementary didactic notations, etc.), and experiments in vocal and instrumental
usage and technique (e.g. Cage's music for prepared piano, Bartk's expansions of string-playing technique).
This article will concentrate on the origins and development of staff notation in the West, and on music
written for the standard ensembles and solo performers of art music.
1. Neumatic notation, 8001200
The origins of the present-day notational system lie in the various plainchant sources and theoretical
treatises of the 9th and 10th centuries. Plainchant was first notated with neumes: small dots and squiggles
probably derived in part from the accentual signs once used in the Latin language. Their various shapes (see
Fig. 1) represent either single notes or groups of notes. Those that represent groups of notes strung together
are called ligatures (from Lat. ligare, to bind), and this term continues to be used for all compound note
forms found in various notations up to the 17th century. The basic plainchant neumes acted as a memory aid,
suggesting (but not precisely indicating) changes of pitch within the melody. There were also liquescent
neumesornamental neumes that required special types of vocal delivery.

By the end of the 10th century, some sources were arranging the neumes vertically on the page to show their
relative pitch (see diastematic neumes). Shortly after, Guido of Arezzo (c. 991after 1033) brought the
various experiments brilliantly into focus. In his Aliae regulae (c. 1030) he recommended that a staff should
be used with spaces as well as lines indicating pitches, and that at least one of the lines should be identified
by a pitch letter (i.e. clef). Guido also suggested that two different forms of the letter b be used to describe
the pitches B and B. These letter signs are the earliest known accidentals in Western music (see durum
and mollis). It is perhaps significant that this attention to precise pitch notation and chromatic inflection
coincided with the first written polyphonic music and its inevitable concern with vertical (harmonic)
relationships.
2. The 13th and 14th centuries
An important development about 1200 was the codification of set ways of combining ligatures so as to
indicate clearly the rhythmic patterns of the music. These set patterns were called rhythmic modes and in
the basic system there were six of them. Thus, if a composer wished to write the rhythm (first mode) he
would use a three-note ligature followed by a two-note group, e.g. . Just such a group can be seen in the
top voice of Fig. 2a after the initial long note and rest. The whole system is set out in Fig. 3. The smallest
unit in each modal pattern was called an ordo, and the ligature pattern that signalled the mode was sufficient
for at least two ordines. The fullest description of the rhythmic modes is given in Johannes de Garlandia's
De mensurabili musicae (c. 1240). Even so, the meaning of any particular note or rest still depended on its
context, and not until about 1260 in the Ars cantus mensurabilis by Franco of Cologne do we find an attempt
to stabilize the relationship between the shape of a note and its value (see Franconian notation; mensural
music, mensural notation). This was the beginning of modern notation. Unlike modern notation, however,
which is based on duple relationships (two crotchets in a minim, two minims in a semibreve, etc.), this
music also had triple relationships (three minims in a semibreve and so on; see prolation). In such triple-time
music, notes could be made duple only by being imperfected in some way, for example by writing the note
in red (see coloration).



The 14th-century French notational system is described in a collection of writings based on the theories of
Philippe de Vitry. (The different system used in Italy did not survive beyond about 1430.) For the first time
the minim is now fully accepted as a note-value in its own right rather than as a special (i.e. minimum)
kind of semibreve. Moreover, the relationship between the semibreve and the minim is given exactly the
same status as that previously accorded to both the long and breve, and the breve and semibreve (see Fig.
4a). A series of time signatures (mensuration signs) eventually came into being which defined precisely
the relationships between the various note-values (see Fig. 4b). If there were three semibreves in the breve
(i.e. perfect tempus) this was shown by a perfect circle, ; imperfect tempus (two semibreves in the breve)
was shown by the half-circle . Furthermore, a perfect or imperfect relationship between the semibreve and
minim (prolation) was indicated by the presence or absence of a dot respectively. Thus, when both the
tempus and prolation were imperfect, for example, the appropriate symbol was the half-circle on its own.
(This is the origin of the time signature for 2/4 and 4/4 timeit does not come from the initial letter of
common time.) A brief illustration of the way in which the system worked can be seen from a ballade by
Machaut, Ne pensez pas, in which both the tempus and prolation are perfect; this means that the piece is in
time, but the time signature is not provided in the particular source shown (see Fig. 5).



3. The 15th and 16th centuries
Around 1450 the solid black notes of earlier periods were replaced by void notes. This was because paper
had replaced parchment as a writing surface, and the concentration of ink needed for black notation tended
to eat through the paper rather quickly; the solution was simply to put the notation in outline (see Fig. 6).
Also there was a decline in the use of ligatures due partly to the establishment of music-printing (1501),
which could not cope well with them, but also to the new tendency to print music in score format which
required notes to be synchronized verticallyalmost impossible with ligatures. The earliest print of vocal
music in score format (complete with bar-lines) was Cipriano de Rore's 1577 collection of four-voice
madrigals published in Venice.

Many details of modern notational usage were established in instrumental music. The earliest extensive use
of ties, slurs, and ledger lines occurs in M. A. Cavazzoni's keyboard volume Recerchari, motetti, canzoni
(Venice, 1523). Bar-lines, somewhat inconsistently used, occur as early as the 14th century, but not until the
mid-17th century do we find them arranged to coincide with regularly recurring accents in the music. By the
15th century the natural sign is used almost as frequently as the sharp and flat signs, and
composers are also beginning regularly to use sharp key signatures as well as the flat ones common in the
medieval period.
The consistent use of tempo markings began in the 16th century. In Luis de Miln's vihuela book El maestro
(Valencia, 1536) each piece is prefaced by instructions including such tempo descriptions as apriessa
(swift) or espacio (slow). As for dynamic markings, the Capirola lutebook (c. 1517) contains the
instruction tocca pian' piano (play very softly) for one of the pieces.
4. The 17th and 18th centuries
In the Baroque period such archaic devices as coloration, proportions, and ligatures are still found,
particularly in works by learned composers writing in the stile antico. But it was in instrumental music and
secular vocal music that far-reaching notational experiments took place. The G clef gained wide acceptance
in French and English harpsichord music, but it was not until Grtry published his Mmoires, ou Essai sur la
musique in 1789 that there was a real attempt to make G and F clefs standard for all music. In spite of some
early experiments with metronomes (Thomas Mace in 1676, tienne Louli in 1696, etc.) tempo was usually
indicated by descriptive words. In 1683 Purcell states (introduction to Sonnata's of III Parts) that Italian
descriptions of tempo are in international use. Also, the use of the basso continuo and the growth of standard
orchestral combinations led to a more uniform appearance in score format. The function of the score
remained ambiguous, however, and not until Purcell's Dioclesian (1691) and Pepusch's edition of Corelli's
sonatas (1732) was the idea of Urtext study scores becoming established.
The preoccupation with expression and articulation led not only to more dramatic styles of music and
performanceempfindsamer Stil (see Empfindsamkeit), Sturm und Drang, the Mannheim rocket, and so
onbut also to a host of ancillary symbols and instructions within the notation. We find bowing marks (e.g.
in Corelli's Follia op. 5 no. 12, 1700), fingering indications (as early as some sources of English virginal
music), and, in the late 18th century, pedalling signs for the pianoforte. Gradual changes of dynamic had
been a desirable musical effect since at least the 16th century (they are described in treatises by Zarlino,
Ganassi, and others), and crescendo, diminuendo, and other markings were used extensively by Vivaldi and
others in the Baroque period.
No aspect of Baroque notation is more contentious than the interpretation of dotted rhythms. A dot after a
note ordinarily meant that it was half as long again as its normal value, but otherwise it simply signified that
the notes on either side were irregular in some way.
5. From the 19th century to the present day
Over the last 200 years the gradual separation of the role of composer and performer has contrived to
increase the level of explicit instruction in music, and the printed score has become the paramount
intermediary between composer and public. Moreover, the layout of scores became more standard, with
treatises on orchestration being written by Berlioz, Rimsky-Korsakov, and others, and with Mendelssohn's
attempting to standardize the seating arrangements of the orchestra in Leipzig and elsewhere.
The treatment of tempo and pulse gradually became more erratic and extreme. In Beethoven's music any
note from the semiquaver to the minim is capable of functioning as the main beat, and such virtuosos as
Liszt and Paganini simply played some of their own music as fast as possible. In the 20th century,
Stockhausen actually gives the tempo indication fastest speed possible in some sections of his Zeitmasze
(1956). The 19th-century concern for virtuosity and expressiveness naturally resulted in increased attention
to the notation of articulation, phrasing, and expressive nuance. Dynamic levels too have become more
extreme, and experiments have been made to indicate dynamics not by traditional methods (ff, pp, etc.) but
by the size of note-head (e.g. in Stockhausen's Zyklus), numerical scales (e.g. in Cage's Changes), and other
devices.
The notation of rhythm continued to harbour ambiguities for some time. For example, there are undotted
demisemiquavers in the Arietta of Beethoven's Piano Sonata op. 111 (bar 50), some of which are perfect
(i.e. worth three hemidemisemiquavers) and some imperfect (worth only two). Again, there is some
evidence that the dotted rhythms in the accompaniments of the chorus parts of Verdi's operas should be
synchronized with the triplets in the vocal part. Today there are still certain genres where a conventional
bending of the rhythm is understood rather than notated (e.g. in the Viennese waltz, swing, jazz).
In the 19th century, ornamentation gradually became absorbed into the style so that in Chopin's tude no. 13
(op. 25 no. 1), for example, the main melody is picked out in larger notes with the ornamental decoration
fully written out in smaller ones. In early Wagner scores we find gruppetto signs and the like, but later (as in
Brnnhilde's main theme in the Ring) the ornamentation is fully written out. In the 20th century there was
some reintroduction of the old ornamentation signs under the influence of neo-classicism, for example the
upper and lower mordent signs found in some works by Tippett.
Electronic scores are often, in part, instruction manuals showing precisely how sounds are to be reproduced.
In Fig. 7, for instance, each block in the top half represents one sound made up of five frequencies (pitches)
of which the highest and the lowest are defined. Overlapping mixtures of sounds are shown by darker
shading. The frequency scale on the left-hand edge ranges from 100 to 17,200 Hz. The duration of each
sound is shown by the centre line, which is calibrated in centimetres allowing for a tape speed of 76.2 cm
per second. The lower half of the graph shows the intensity of sound (loudness and attack/decay elements)
measured in decibels ranging from 0 to 30. The notation still bears some resemblance to conventional
scores (duration moves from left to right, pitch is shown by height or depth, etc.) but some more recent
computer notations are highly sophisticated machine languages for controlling and manipulating acoustical
equipment; their visual appearance is no longer obviously analogous to the gestures in the resultant music.
Some types of aleatory music allow random events outside the control of the performer to become part of
the music (as in Cage's silent piano piece 433), while others attempt to provoke the musician into a
subjective response (see graphic notation).

Apart from such avant-garde notations there has been a steady development of more traditional means,
partly arising from new ways of using conventional instruments and the voice. For example, the Polish
composer Penderecki has greatly expanded the range of string-playing techniques: Fig. 8 is from his
Threnody for 52 stringed instruments with an explanatory table (provided by the composer) showing the
different techniques used. Finally, the 20th century spawned a number of didactic and academic notations.
For example, the disciplines of ethnomusicology and music analysis have both developed their own
notations, the former for recording non-Western musics, the latter for distinguishing between foreground
and background materials and more or less significant harmonic events.

See also tempo and expression marks.
Anthony Pryer
Bibliography
W. Apel , The Notation of Polyphonic Music, 9001600 (Cambridge, MA, 1942, 5/1961)
E. Karkoschka , Das Schriftbild der neuen Musik (Celle, 1966; Eng. trans. 1972)
H. Keller , Phrasing and Articulation (London, 1966)
H. Cole , Sounds and Signs: Aspects of Musical Notation (Oxford, 1974)
K. Stone , Music Notation in the Twentieth Century (New York, 1980)
R. Rastall , The Notation of Western Music (London, 1983, 2/1994)