Mondo Knows Facts
The five line staff is a medieval invention
Guido d'Arezzo's teaching methods led to the notation still in use Earlier notation used fewer lines or letters above the text. Four lines served plainchant, and five became standard as ranges widened. Clefs fix which line carries which pitch. It sits in Mondo's music collection, one of 200 facts that each trace back to the reference below.
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More facts like this
Do-re-mi traces back to an 11th-century monkGuido of Arezzo developed the four-line staff and sight-singing syllablesSome instruments sound at a different pitch from the notes writtenA written C on a B flat clarinet comes out as B flatPlainchant is built from a set of modesEach mode fixes a pattern of steps and a characteristic tone of emphasisButtons with buttonholes changed how clothes fittedFasteners that actually closed a garment appeared in thirteenth century GermanyMechanical clocks began striking in medieval towersAn escapement regulated falling weights and let towns keep time through the nightSalisbury Cathedral has the oldest working clockThe iron mechanism inside the cathedral has struck hours since about 1386
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Tags: notation, history, medieval
The five line staff is a medieval invention: the short answers
- Where does this come from, and can I check it?
- Guido d'Arezzo's teaching methods led to the notation still in use. The figure is taken from Britannica, which is linked in full on this page. Every fact on Mondo Knows names its source rather than repeating an unsourced claim.
- Is this really a music fact?
- Yes. It sits on the Music shelf, one of 2,600 sourced facts grouped into space, animals, the human body, history, science and more. Category pages collect every fact in the same field.
- What else can I read about it?
- The links under the fact point to a quiz, game, puzzle or calculator on the same subject, and the shelf below shows related facts. The wording here is original, and quoted phrases are marked as quotations.