Please enjoy the tale and use your imagination.
HOW THE MUSIC STAFF ORIGINATED AND EVOLVED
Picture yourself in the Middle Ages, as a young apprentice scribe.
The year is 874 A.D. and this morning’s class is being held on the east hillside in order to enjoy the benefit of natural light on this cool, spring day. You are practicing how to perfect your writing skills by copying tales. Today, the teacher brought along a two-hundred year old scroll for us to study. It is almost impossible to read due to its age. The lesson is to decipher what is written on the scroll. The teacher instructs us to copy the scroll, so that over time, ancient knowledge would unfold before our eyes.
After months of studying every detail, you recognize familiar symbols that look like Greek letters. Some letters join to form words, but no matter how hard you try you cannot determine all of the words. You patiently continue with deeper focus.
After intense scrutiny, you notice that one series of words seem similar to a familiar chant, one that you have heard sung since you were a child. You notice brush strokes, looking like accents, which seem to match the chant’s words. Dots, squares and curved lines, are mixed in with the Greek letters. The teacher tells the class that one would need to take a big breath before trying to sing all of the words together. This is why these symbols are called neumes, like the Greek word for “breath”— pneuma. We all continued copying the ancient scroll, trying to unlock the ancient wisdom.
For the next 14 years, you work tirelessly, perfecting your scribal skills. Finally, you complete your almost perfect copy of the ancient scroll. You promise to keep the masterful copy of the ancient scroll in your family, so that the ancient knowledge may live on for future generations.
Many years transpired, and you gave the scroll to your great-grandson, Giorgos. Later, he gave the cherished scroll to his grandson, Georgiou, who brought the scroll along when he relocated to Northern Italy. Take pride knowing your hard work continued to live on, since his son Vito, joined an Italian monastery, and kept the scroll safe as a family heirloom.
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