With the help of notes in music, various sounds are graphically indicated, and the musical composition is the correct combination of certain sounds. When did the familiar “do-re-mi” and other names appear?

History of occurrence

Notes are an integral part of musical notation. But before their appearance, musicians used special signs - nevmami, with the help of which they graphically recorded musical compositions. However, there were a lot of flaws in nemes. They could be used only if the melody is well known.

The notes appeared in the 11th century thanks to the Italian theorist and musical teacher, Guido Aretinsky (c. 991-1033 A.D.). He made a huge contribution to the music of the Middle Ages, as well as Western European music in general. Guido worked at various church churches, taught music, choral singing.

He set himself the task of creating such a musical instrument that would be easily used all over the world. So, once he invented a way to more easily memorize new tunes.

For this, Arethinsky used acrostic prayers to John the Baptist under the name “Ut queant laxis”. The author of this prayer, written in Latin, is considered the monk Paul Deacon.

Guido used the first syllables of each line as the name for the notes. He was also the first to record musical compositions on a stave consisting of rulers and gaps between them.Thus, Aretinsky came up with a system of solimization - the chant, which is still used.

Interesting fact: hereinafter “Ut queant laxis” became a hymn to John the Baptist. In the Catholic liturgy, it is timed to coincide with the Nativity of John the Baptist. A hymn is sung on this principle - each new line is sung in accordance with a certain pitch and tone of sounds.

Note Names

A note translated from Latin "nota" means a label or sign. The peculiarity of the acrostic is that all notes are easy to sing, since they end in a vowel sound (except for the first Ut). Therefore, around the XVII century, the note Ut was replaced by Do for convenience. It was made by the Italian humanist Giovanni Doni. A note of Si was also added.

The original hymn displays the appeal of a believer to John the Baptist with a request to forgive sins and see a real miracle. There is a more modern interpretation of the names, according to which each note has a full name. For example, Do - from the word Dominus (Lord), Mi - from the word miraculum (miracle), etc.

Despite the prevalence of this interpretation, it is considered false, because the names of the notes came precisely from the acrostic prayer.

Guido Aretinsky also skillfully guided the choir with his left hand. At certain points, he bent the joint on his fingers, thereby showing the singers which note to take.