The invention of the stave (or staff)

彦彦

The invention of the stave (or staff)
Diastematic notation in combination with a system of stave lines in effect became the basis of modern staff notation. It is popularly associated with the most famous Mediaeval theorist, Guido d’Arezzo (c.991- after 1033). In his Aliae regulae (’Other Rules’, c.1020-25) he proposed that:

‘Whichever lines or spaces you wish are preceded by certain letters of the monochord
[e.g. A to G] and also colours are marked over them’

He specified that yellow be used for the C line and red for the F - C and F are the only two notes in the modal systems in use at the time (and also in the C major scale) which are preceded from below by a semitone. The key letters for C and F survive to the present day in the form of the C and F clefs.
Guido is also famous for the ‘Guidonian Hand’, a teaching method whereby new melodies could be read more easily by means of a tune whose various phrases each began on the next note of the scale. These single-syllable Latin words (Ut Re Mi Fa Sol La) are identical to the French letter names for these notes.


Guidonian hand from a manuscript from Mantua, last quarter of 15thC (Oxford University MS Canon. Liturg. 216. f.168 brecto)(Bodleian Library)