Guido D’arezzo and the History of Written Music
During the medieval era of music history, music was not documented and transmitted the same way that it is today. Rather than a choir learning a new song by looking at a piece of sheet music and sight reading, oral transmission was used. In plainchant music, for example, a leader or conductor would teach the choir a song by first singing it. The choir would then sing back the same melody or phrase in an emulative manner. This method of learning music, however, changed during the 11th century, when Guido...
18 min