What’s the oldest piece of written music in existence?
Music notation – you see this intricate system of written language in any piece of sheet music you may most likely lay your palms on. Dots, squiggles, dashes, traces and fragments of Italian. It sort of works.
It’s in no way the one music notation in existence, although. Should you’re an Indian classical musician or play custom Korean music, you may be used to a system of be aware names that seem in a desk. It’s much like guitar tablature or the Nashville System in pop music.
However for many musicians on the earth, written music means these dots and dashes and bits of Italian — a consensus, although, that’s solely been round for 5 or 600 years.
Instrumental within the improvement
It’s a system devised in — you guessed it — Italy, within the 1500s and 1600s. It was a time when instrumental music was on the rise, and the musicians wanted one thing concrete in entrance of them to speak pitch and rhythm. So begin — however this isn’t the oldest musical notation in existence.
A musical visionary
These dots and dashes have been first dreamt up just a few hundred years earlier than that, by Guido d’Arezzo. He lived across the yr 1000 within the Widespread Period, and was a musical theorist. He additionally devised a better system that gave names to the notes, and so made them simpler to recollect. It developed into one thing you may need learnt in school — tonic sol-fa, or the ‘do, re, mi’ system.
That’s a great distance again in historical past, nevertheless it’s not the primary written musical notation.
Liturgical notation
This music was notated utilizing a system that got here into being in concerning the yr 800 within the frequent period. It makes use of ‘neumes’ — these are graphical shapes that point out the contour of a melodic line. Nevertheless it does not notate the exact pitches. It was used for lots of early liturgical music, corresponding to the primary time Gregorian chant was written down.
800 CE? That’s a great distance again isn’t it. Nevertheless it’s nonetheless not the earliest written music we find out about.
The Historical World
There’s proof of written music from Historical Greece and Byzantium. However I need to take you to Syria.
A bit of music exists that was written — we expect — between 1600 and 1400 BCE. Meaning it’s probably 3600 years outdated. It’s known as the Hymn to Nikkal, who was the goddess of orchards, and so this was most likely supposed to be sung to assist harvest alongside.
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It’s regarded as the earliest piece of written music in existence — shapes and directions on a stone pill from the mists of time, that confirmed how music could possibly be recorded. And in so doing, formed an entire custom that continues at present.
Russell Torrance presents Traditional Breakfast on ABC Traditional (Monday to Friday, 6am–10am). On this query and reply sequence, Russell offers his take in your burning questions on classical music.
“Well bless their hearts.”
