From Neumes To Notes: A Brief History Of Western Notation (Patreon)

We use a lot of fancy symbols to represent music. We write our songs down with all these dots and squiggles and somehow that creates the melodies, harmonies, and rhythms we're playing. But how did these particular symbols come to mean what they do? Why do they work like that?  Modern notation is the product of a thousand-year process, from ancient monks to modern composers finding little (or not so little) ways to improve the system. Today, we're looking at some of the most important steps in that process, and we're saying cool things like "Neumes" and "Ars Nova" along the way. Check it out!