Where did the idea of writing music on paper originate

A.� The urge to make music is as old as the human race,�and the desire to capture particular pieces of music in a format, which could be passed on to others, is as old as civilisation itself.

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Q.� That means it goes back to the Romans and Greeks.

A.� It does�- two and a half thousand years to be exact. The man generally credited with creating a workable system of musical notation�- the correct term for written music - was Boethius, an adviser to the court of the Roman Empire. Boethius conceived a system of notation based on giving two octaves of notes, fifteen notes in all, an individual letter of the alphabet. With this simple system, the means of writing music down in a form, which could be read by anyone else, was born, and the rest is literally history.

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Q.� How did people manage before Boethius came along

A.� From the earliest days of language, man has made up stories and songs to document his experiences, and ideas. These songs were often stories of heroes and battles, and the earliest singers and poets made their living from moving from town to town, and creating and singing their stories and songs. These songs were simply memories, and passed on from one generation to another as children learned them from the adults, and added to, and embellished them with each telling and singing.

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Q.� So the system Boethius created carried on for some time

A.� It carried on more or less unchanged until the Middle Ages, encompassing the religious music of the sixth century�- the Gregorian chants, named after Pope Gregory who collated the vast amount of religious music that had been composed. From the seventh century, the addition of acute and grave accents was added to musical notation, to denote the rising and falling in pitch, together with the use of a straight line on which to base the notation.

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Q.� When did the idea of five lines and four spaces that we use today come into operation

A.� Guido D'Arezzo introduced the musical staff in the eleventh century, and when one Franco of Cologne had devised shaped notes to indicate the length of each musical note as it was played, the system of musical notation was complete, and remained virtually unchanged�today.

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Q.� Is musical notation essential

A.� Certainly most musical scholars would agree that it is. In terms of handing down music from history, it has been invaluable. Who knows if the works of Beethoven Bach and Mozart would have survived if the composers had been unable to write their music in a simple manageable format, which was by then universally used and understood.

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Q.� Does notation have a place in the modern world

A.� The use of musical notation is essential in classical music. Attempting to teach and rehearse any modern orchestral work would be virtually impossible without the aid of individual parts which can be learned and rehearsed by individual orchestra musicians before coming together with the rest of their colleagues, and being able to play together in unison.

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Q.� What about popular music

A.� Certainly less so, the ability to read music is not considered essential in order to produce modern music, and 'modern' refers to anything written in the last hundred years.

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Q.� Why doesn't it matter for pop musicians

A.� Because pop bands usually consist of just a few people, who can easily pick up the structure and rhythm, of a pop song 'by ear', in other words by hearing it a few times, and then practicing their own part until the group can play it together. Paul McCartney makes no secret of the fact that he can't read music, but has always created the sound he wants, and then taught it aurally to the musicians with whom he's working.

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Q.� Any other examples

A.� Benny and Bjorn from Abba don't read music either, and have, therefore, never bothered with trying to write down their compositions in notation form. When the idea for the musical Mamma Mia was discussed, the duo had to dissect recordings of their hit songs into individual parts, and find musicians who could write down each part in notation, and then teach each part to the orchestra members who were re-creating the music fore the stage show. Benny and Bjorn had simply done what musicians before and after did�- work out the music on piano and guitar, teach each other, and then teach the Abba ladies their vocal parts. Not being able to read or write music has never hampered popular musicians.

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Q.� Is musical notation likely to continue

A.� It probably will�- for classical and orchestral works its future is assured. In common with any evolutionary system, music notation would have changed if it were necessary, but the basic scheme of a staff and specific notes has worked very well for the last thousand years, there is no real reason to change it now. Doubtless a computer programme will be created to write music simultaneously as it is sung or played by a non-writing musician, but this is likely to be an addition rather than a replacement, in the same way that computers have yet to replace paper and pen as writing media.

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