Composition

History and Notation

Typically, a work of music is composed by writing out the note events to be performed in standard musical notation. Notation allows a piece of music to be played more or less the same from one performance to another. Particular notation systems exist for specialized instruments and music, for example, graphical notation, but they are far less common than standard notation. Music was composed before musical notation was widely used, so pieces would be performed from memory and transmitted from one person to another by playing and memorizing them, with the obvious difficulty that this has for repeatable performances. Thus, musical composition is intimately linked with musical notation systems, because this is a way to express musical ideas and store them for future performance.

Music notation developed in different parts of the world at different times. In Asia there is evidence of music notation from about 2000 B.C.E. Around 850 C.E. in Europe, Catholic monks began developing musical notation so that their chants could be repeated and eventually performed in other churches. Consequently, in western Europe, musical notation was initially developed by the Catholic Church to ensure that church services were the same from one place to the next, and so it can be seen as aiding in social control. Musical notation has developed extensively from its early beginnings and now the notation that developed in western Europe has the precision and flexibility to be dominant worldwide. By using notation systems, not only are repeatable performances possible, but also pitch and rhythmic organization is possible that is more complex than can be easily remembered or imagined. The development of notation systems allowed the practice of composition to develop and for the creation of more complex music than was possible without musical notation. The invention of printing had a major impact on the distribution of musical compositions and therefore on the dissemination of various musical ideas and styles.

...