An excerpt from the INTRODUCTORY SKETCH: THE representation of musical sounds in writing, called musical notation, or simply notation, from nota, a mark or sign, is a thing so commonplace, so universal, and apparently so simple, that we are apt to overlook the fact that our stave, with its variously shaped "notes" and all that goes to convey a composer's thoughts to the world, are the outcome of centuries of experiments and gradual improvements. Whether the Egyptians, the Hebrews, Chaldeans, and other Semitic nations, ...
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An excerpt from the INTRODUCTORY SKETCH: THE representation of musical sounds in writing, called musical notation, or simply notation, from nota, a mark or sign, is a thing so commonplace, so universal, and apparently so simple, that we are apt to overlook the fact that our stave, with its variously shaped "notes" and all that goes to convey a composer's thoughts to the world, are the outcome of centuries of experiments and gradual improvements. Whether the Egyptians, the Hebrews, Chaldeans, and other Semitic nations, which had arrived at a certain degree of musical culture, noted their music is not known; it may be presumed that they did, but up to the present nothing has been discovered of the nature of a musical semeiography. It cannot be said that these nations were not yet sufficiently advanced to be able to invent a means of writing down the various sounds of voices and instruments: the fact remains that, as far as we know at present, the Greeks were the only ancient European nation that did so, and they made use of letters of the alphabet for this purpose, as did the Hindus before them, and the Western Europeans after them; the Persians Other used numbers, and a kind of stave of nine lines, between which the numbers were placed, while the Chinese used special signs for their pentatonic scale. The history of our present notation begins with that of the Greeks, who arranged their alphabet in groups of three letters to each tone, thus showing the semitones and quarter-tones. The knowledge of this arrangement passed away until rediscovered in the nineteenth century by the labours of Bellermann, Fortlage, and others, who have explained the notation tables given by Alypius, Aristides, Nicomachus, Ptolemy, Gaudentius, and later writers. The tables, arranged according to tropes and modes, show successions of letters, apparently taken at haphazard, to indicate the seven notes of the three kinds of scale, the diatonic, chromatic, and enharmonic. The Greeks also used a system of time-signs, two of which have survived to the present day in the long (-) and short (u) signs placed over vowels in Latin grammars, and they had means of representing accent, so that their notation was as complete as the mediaeval tablatures, of which we shall speak later, or the modern tonic sol-fa. The first use of Latin letters for representing musical sounds is found in the writings of Boethius, about A.D. 500; though it is a mistake to speak of the "Boethian notation," since he never used the letters to indicate musical melodies....
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Add this copy of The Story of Notation (the Music Story Series) to cart. $77.15, very good condition, Sold by Wonder Book - Member ABAA/ILAB rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Frederick, MD, UNITED STATES, published 1971 by Abbey Publishing.
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Seller's Description:
Very Good. Very Good condition. (musical notation) A copy that may have a few cosmetic defects. May also contain a few markings such as an owner's name, short gifter's inscription or light stamp.
Add this copy of The Story of Notation (the Music Story Series) to cart. $83.78, good condition, Sold by Phatpocket Limited rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Waltham Abbey, ESSEX, UNITED KINGDOM, published 1971 by Abbey Publishing.
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Good. Ships from UK in 48 hours or less (usually same day). Your purchase helps support Sri Lankan Children's Charity 'The Rainbow Centre'. Ex-library, so some stamps and wear, but in good overall condition. 100% money back guarantee. We are a world class secondhand bookstore based in Hertfordshire, United Kingdom and specialize in high quality textbooks across an enormous variety of subjects. We aim to provide a vast range of textbooks, rare and collectible books at a great price. Our donations to The Rainbow Centre have helped provide an education and a safe haven to hundreds of children who live in appalling conditions. We provide a 100% money back guarantee and are dedicated to providing our customers with the highest standards of service in the bookselling industry.
Add this copy of The Story of Notation to cart. $93.86, fair condition, Sold by Anybook rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Lincoln, UNITED KINGDOM, published 1969 by Greenwood Press.
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This is an ex-library book and may have the usual library/used-book markings inside. This book has hardback covers. In fair condition, suitable as a study copy. No dust jacket. Please note the Image in this listing is a stock photo and may not match the covers of the actual item, 600grams, ISBN: 0837116228.