The remarkable story of musical notation

Henrik Sinding-Larsen analyzes how new tools for the visual description of sound revolutionized the way music was conceived, performed, and disseminated. Early on, the ancient Greeks had described pitches and intervals in mathematically precise ways. However, their complex system had few consequences until it was combined with the practical minds of Roman Catholic choirmasters around 1000 ce. Now, melodies became depicted as note-heads on lines with precise pitch meanings and with note names based on octaves. This graphical and conceptual externalization of patterns in sound paved the way for a polyphonic complexity unimaginable in a purely oral/aural tradition. However, this higher complexity also entailed strictly standardized/homogenized scales and less room for improvisation in much of notation-based music. Through the concept of externalization, lessons from the history of musical notation are generalized to other tools of description, and Sinding-Larsen ends with a reflection on what future practices might become imaginable and unimaginable as a result of computer programming.

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Hamilton's Patent "Union" Musical Notation

The Musical Times and Singing Class Circular ◽

10.2307/3351853 ◽

1870 ◽

Vol 14 (324) ◽

pp. 372

Keyword(s):

Musical Notation

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Neurocognitive Studies of Musical Literacy Acquisition

Musicae Scientiae ◽

10.1177/102986490500900204 ◽

2005 ◽

Vol 9 (2) ◽

pp. 223-237

Author(s):

Lauren Stewart

Keyword(s):

Ecological Model ◽

Written Language ◽

Music Reading ◽

Musical Notation ◽

Primary Function ◽

Sensorimotor Transformations ◽

Systematic Effects ◽

Written Word ◽

Spatial Interference ◽

Musical Response

Although certain parallels can be drawn between written language and notation in music — both use arbitrary visual symbols to notate the salient aspects of a sound pattern, the purpose of each notational system differs markedly. While the primary function of written language is to carry referential meaning, the primary function of musical notation is to carry instructions for the production of a musical performance. Music reading thus lies at the interface between perception and action and provides an ecological model with which to study how visual instructions influence the motor system. The studies presented in this article investigate how musical symbols on the page are decoded into a musical response, from both a cognitive and neurological perspective. The results of a musical Stroop paradigm are described, in which musical notation was present but irrelevant for task performance. The presence of musical notation produced systematic effects on reaction time, demonstrating that reading of the written note, as well as the written word, is obligatory for those who are musically literate. Spatial interference tasks are also described which suggest that music reading, at least for the pianist, can be characterized as a set of vertical to horizontal mappings. These behavioural findings are mirrored by the results of an fMRI training study in which musically untrained adults were taught to read music and play piano keyboard over a period of three months. Learning-specific changes were seen in superior parietal cortex and supramarginal gyrus, areas which are known to be involved in spatial sensorimotor transformations and preparation of learned actions respectively.

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Domain-specific and domain-general contributions to reading musical notation

Attention Perception & Psychophysics ◽

10.3758/s13414-021-02349-3 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Ting-Yun Chang ◽

Isabel Gauthier

Keyword(s):

Musical Notation ◽

Domain Specific

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MUSIC COMMUNICATION: WAYS OF REPRODUCTION AND CHANNELS OF PERCEPTION OF MUSIC (historical and analytical view)

Arts education and science ◽

10.36871/hon.202002006 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 1 (2) ◽

pp. 53-61

Author(s):

A. N. Yakoupov ◽

Keyword(s):

Oral Communication ◽

Recording Equipment ◽

Professional Musicians ◽

Stage Design ◽

New Era ◽

Musical Notation ◽

Theatrical Performance ◽

Musical Thinking ◽

Oral Method ◽

Musical Communication

In the article the means of musical communication and their evolution are considered in the historical and analytical aspect. There are two types of communication tools: acoustic, using the airspace as a channel for transmitting encoded information, and visual, which include stage design, allowing to perceive music as a kind of theatrical performance, and musical notation, graphically fixing all the components of the musical text. As the earliest means of nonwritten communication, the oral method is put forward, a vivid example of which is folklore, often called the musical memory of generations. Other examples of oral communication are cult music, improvisation and musical meditation. It is stated that musical writing, in particular, musical notation, and later printing tools have created conditions for overcoming spatial and temporal barriers to the spread of music. The next step is the invention of technical sound recording, which opened a new era in the development of communications. Magnetic recording of the visual series made it possible to create concert films and opera films. Even greater involvement of people in the process of musical communication was facilitated by the appearance of electronic and mechanical means of recording music. The emergence of new opportunities in the field of sound dynamics control, its timbre, influenced the development of musical thinking. A new industry of "production" has emerged with the involvement of professional musicians who own modern recording equipment and specialize in the production of "artificial" musical products. This process was accompanied by the formation of a new audience of listeners who preferred recording to live sound.

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