~1026 - Guido of Arezzo compiles his treatise Micrologus (“little book”), which includes the earliest use of staff notation, clefs (C and F), and accidentals (only B flat and B natural). He also introduces solfege using the six syllables ut, re, mi, fa, sol, and la.

E. Morgan-Ellis

~1200 - Manuscripts produced at the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris contain the first attempt to notate rhythm. However, the system used in this music is not a predecessor to modern rhythmic notation. It uses patterns of ligatures (note groupings) to indicate one of six modal rhythms, which are fixed rhythmic patterns. The appearance of an individual notehead tells the musicians nothing about its duration.

E. Morgan - Ellis

~1315 - Treatises by Johannes de Muris (Ars nove music, or “new art of music”) and Phillipe de Vitry (Ars nova notandi, or “new art of notation”) expand on Franco’s system, introducing new noteheads that indicate longer and shorter durations. They also develop the concept of meter and an accompanying system of time signatures. Composers in this era begin using flats, naturals, and sharps on pitches other than B, a practice termed musica ficta (“fictional music”) because these pitches do not exist in Guido’s system.

E. Morgan - Ellis

~1400 - Composers begin to use bar lines, although they will not become common until around 1650.

E. Morgan - Ellis

~1280 - Franco of Cologe compiles his treatise Ars cantus mensurabilis (“art of measured song”), which includes the first system of rhythmic notation that uses variation in the appearance of noteheads to indicate duration. This is referred to as “mensural notation.”

E. Morgan - Ellis

Tactus or Beating Time in the 16th Century

Solmization in the 16th Century