Neume Notation

ネウマ譜 / 9th century– / Style / Notation Systems

The West's oldest musical writing: melodic inflection recorded in curves like the motion of a hand. The gesture of melody before pitch was fixed to lines, still alive in the manuscripts of Gregorian chant.

Curves as melodic gesture / Four-line staves and square notes / Manuscript red and black / Signs floating above the words

Neume Notation — グレゴリオ聖歌のネウマ譜Neume Notation — 『アヴェ・マリア』の聖歌譜（CC BY-SA 4.0）
『アヴェ・マリア』の聖歌譜（CC BY-SA 4.0）

Dictionary entry

Best used for
Comparing primary sources and canonical works · Extracting principles that transfer to other media
Type
Observe the letters, signs and scale of reference works
Composition
Extract the one structure that governs gaze and information
Material
Verify the materials and behaviors specific to era, region and process
Caution
Don't reduce it to surface signs. Verify the context of era, region, technology and makers.
Further study
the St. Gall manuscripts / the Solesmes restoration / from neumes to square notation

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