The system of musical notation we know today has not always been the same. In the Middle Ages, musical notes had different names and were written differently. In this article, we will explore the evolution of musical notes during this period and find out what they were called.
The Origin of the Medieval Musical Notation System
Before the invention of modern notation, music was mainly passed down orally from one musician to another. However, from the 9th century onward, the first written traces of music began to appear, mainly in the form of neumes (signs indicating pitch and duration) placed above liturgical texts.
Around the 11th century, a revolution in musical notation took place thanks to an Italian monk named Guido d’Arezzo. Guido rationalized the system by assigning a specific sign to each note, making written music easier to memorize and transmit.
Guido d’Arezzo’s Musical Alphabet
Guido d’Arezzo designed a system based on the letters of the alphabet. The notes were designated by the first seven letters of the Latin alphabet: A, B, C, D, E, F and G. The following notes were represented by the same letters, but with the addition of a horizontal line above them to indicate that they belonged to the higher octave.
This system did, however, have its limits, especially when it came to indicating the pitch of notes. To solve this problem, Guido also developed another system, based on syllables rather than letters.
The Solmization System
Solmization is a method for learning and practicing music through the use of specific syllables to designate the different notes of the scale. This system dates back to the Middle Ages and is still used today in various forms.
Guido d’Arezzo’s Hexachords
To make it easier to learn and sing complex melodies, Guido d’Arezzo established a system called the “hexachord.” A hexachord is a series of six consecutive notes in the diatonic scale, each associated with a particular syllable:
- Ut (which would later become Do)
- Re
- Mi
- Fa
- Sol
- La
These syllables are taken from the first syllables of each line of a Latin hymn dedicated to Saint John the Baptist:
Ut queant laxis
Resonare fibris
Mira gestorum
Famuli tuorum
Solve polluti
Labii reatum, Sancte Iohannes
The use of these syllables helped singers find their way through melodies more easily and sing with greater precision.
Musical Notes at the End of the Middle Ages
As Western music evolved, the need for a more precise and more flexible notation system became increasingly pressing. As a result, several important innovations were developed over the following centuries.
The Introduction of Si (or Ti) and the Modern Do
In the 14th century, a new hexachord was added to cover the lower notes of the scale. This new hexachord had B as its first note, which was already used in earlier hexachords, but now had its own syllable: Si. Si would later be replaced by Ti in certain traditions, especially in the English-speaking world.
It was also in the 14th century that Ut was gradually replaced by Do, considered easier to pronounce. Thus, the modern names of musical notes were now all in place: Do, Re, Mi, Fa, Sol, La, Si/Ti.
The Evolution of Musical Notation
Alongside these changes in note names, musical notation itself underwent many transformations. Neumes gradually evolved into square notes, then into the black and white note forms we know today.
Innovations such as the use of a staff, with lines and spaces to represent different pitches, as well as the introduction of clefs (such as the treble clef or bass clef) to indicate the position of notes in relation to a fixed pitch, also helped make musical notation more precise and easier to read.
Traces of the Medieval System in Modern Music
Although our current system of musical notation is very different from the one used in the Middle Ages, certain aspects of the medieval legacy still endure today. For example, the syllables of the solmization system are still used to teach singing and music theory in many countries, particularly in the Kodály method and shape-note singing.
Knowing the origins of the musical notation system and the names of musical notes can help us better understand the evolution of Western music and appreciate the richness and diversity of our musical heritage.
Discover all the singers of the Middle Ages by continuing your reading with this article entirely devoted to this fascinating subject.