# Neume Notation (ネウマ譜)

> 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.

- IndexStyle No.419 — https://indexstyle.org/styles/neume-notation
- Kind: Style · Family: Notation Systems · Era: 9th century–
- Mood: Calm, Nostalgia, Trust
- Color cues: #e9e6dd / #67635d / #171615 (cues taken from reference works, not a fixed palette)

## Defining characteristics

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

## Best used for

- Comparing primary sources and canonical works
- Extracting principles that transfer to other media

## Research method

This entry records a historical style; derive the treatment from its sources rather than a fixed recipe:

- Observe the letters, signs and scale of reference works
- Extract the one structure that governs gaze and information
- Verify the materials and behaviors specific to era, region and process

## What to avoid

Don't reduce it to surface signs. Verify the context of era, region, technology and makers.

## Application checklist

Before calling a piece an application of this style, check it against the defining characteristics:

- [ ] Curves as melodic gesture
- [ ] Four-line staves and square notes
- [ ] Manuscript red and black
- [ ] Signs floating above the words
- [ ] At least one reference work below has been studied directly
- [ ] The caution above ("What to avoid") has been addressed

## Related styles

- **Staff Notation (五線譜)** — From Guido's lines to the five-line staff: pitch fixed to coordinates. Time running left to right, height mapped up and down — the longest-lived format in information design, in continuous use for a millennium. → https://indexstyle.org/styles/staff-notation
- **Illuminated Manuscript (彩飾写本)** — Weaves text, image and gilding into one page structure, turning reading into ritual. → https://indexstyle.org/styles/illuminated-manuscript

## Further study

- the St. Gall manuscripts
- the Solesmes restoration
- from neumes to square notation

## Reference works

- グレゴリオ聖歌のネウマ譜 — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Te%20Deum%20(Gregorian).png
- 『アヴェ・マリア』の聖歌譜（CC BY-SA 4.0） — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ave%20maria%20gregorian%20chant.gif

## Source of record

- Abbaye Saint-Pierre de Solesmes — https://www.solesmes.com/

## Machine surfaces

- JSON: https://indexstyle.org/api/styles/neume-notation
- Image-generation prompt (legally clean): https://indexstyle.org/styles/neume-notation/prompt.txt
- MCP: https://indexstyle.org/mcp (tools: search_styles, get_style, compose_styles; prompts: image-prompt, apply-style)

## 日本語

歌の抑揚を手の動きのような曲線で記した、西洋最古の楽譜。音の高さを線で固定する以前の「旋律のジェスチャー」が、グレゴリオ聖歌の写本にいまも残る。

特徴: 旋律のジェスチャー曲線／四線譜と四角い音符／写本の朱と黒／歌詞の上に浮かぶ記号
注意: 表面的な記号へ還元せず、時代・地域・技術・制作主体の文脈を確認する。