notation

Musical notation is the technology that allows music to be recorded, transmitted, and preserved across time and distance. The modern system uses a five-line staff, clefs, note heads, stems, flags, and a variety of symbols for dynamics, articulation, and expression. It has been refined over roughly a thousand years. The earliest Western notation appeared in medieval monasteries as simple marks (neumes) above the text to indicate the general shape of a melody. By the 13th century, notation could specify both pitch and rhythm. Guido d'Arezzo, an 11th-century monk, invented the staff system and the solmisation syllables (do, re, mi) that are still used today. Modern notation, while imperfect, can convey an extraordinary amount of information in a compact visual format.