The modern European musical scale is rooted in the era of the Byzantine Empire. At that time, a musical scale similar to the one known today was already used. The understanding of notes was based on pitch, and in a recorded piece of music of several notes, the subsequent one could be higher or lower than the previous one.
In addition to the Byzantine system of notation, the system proposed by the ancient Roman philosopher Boethius in the 6th century AD was used. In it, the notes were denoted by Latin letters from A to G.
The Egyptians, Greeks, Romans and other peoples made a certain contribution to the development of the notation system for notes.
The ancient Greek philosopher Pythagoras studied various aspects of music theory, in particular the mathematical nature of harmony and the musical scale. He knew, for example, that the pitch of a note is related to the length of the playing strings, and what their ratio is. If you cut the string in half, you get a sound an octave higher.
The Egyptians and Babylonians used different forms of notation for musical notes. Their records of how to tune the lyres and how to play certain strings have survived. However, only insignificant documentary fragments remained from that era, and therefore it is impossible to form a complete picture about the musical system of that time.
First recorded piece of music
The earliest example of a completely recorded piece of music, that is, the words of a song and its musical notation, dates back to the era of ancient Greece. The method used in it differs from the modern system. This piece of music is called "The Epitaph of Seikilos". The inscription was found on an ancient grave in Turkey and it dates from the first century AD.
The role of the church in the development of musical notes
In the early stages, the notation system developed in various parts of Europe thanks to the efforts of the church. Many early musical texts were intended for choral singing. In the notes, the notes were written over the sung syllable or word.
Church music of this time was called "Gregorian chant". It got this name thanks to the Roman Pope who was then at the head of the church, whose name was Gregory the Great. He led the church from 590 to 604. But the system of notation for the pitch of notes has not yet been developed. The texts indicated only how the next note should be played in comparison with the previous one.
This problem was corrected with the introduction of a horizontal line system. First, one line appeared, and then there were four of them.
The invention of the staff is attributed to the Italian monk of the Order of St. Benedict Guido of Arezzo, who lived in 991-1033. In his treatise on musical notation, he used the first letters of the hymn to determine the pitch of the notes. These letters were "ut", "re", "mi", "fa", "sol", "la". In most countries the name “ut” became “do”, and a few centuries later the note “si” was added. Then the notes began to be designated by names from "to" to "si".
As the Gregorian chant became more complex, the musical notation changed as well. The modern staff of five horizontal lines was first used by the French composer Perotin in 1200. He also developed musical polyphony.
