Musical notation is a powerful system of communication between musicians, using sophisticated symbolic, primarily non-verbal means to express musical events in visual symbols. Many musicians take the system for granted, having internalized it and their strategies for reading it and translating it into sound over long years of study and practice. This book traces the development of that system by combining chronological and thematic approaches to show the historical and musical context in which these developments took place. Simultaneously, the book considers the way in which this symbolic language communicates to those literate in it, discussing how its features facilitate or hinder fluent comprehension in the real-time environment of performance. Moreover, the topic of musical as opposed to notational innovation forms another thread of the treatment, as the author investigates instances where musical developments stimulated notational attributes, or notational innovations made practicable advances in musical style.

A detailed critical and historical investigation of the development of musical notation as a powerful system of symbolic communication.

About the Author
James Grier is Professor of Music History at the University of Western Ontario and Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. He has written The Critical Editing of Music (Cambridge, 1996; Spanish translation 2008), and three books on the music of Ademar de Chabannes, eleventh-century Aquitanian monk.

Reviews
'Recommended.' S. C. Pelkey, Choice Magazine
'... rich in many ways ...' Susan Forscher Weiss, Revue de musicologie



Book Information
ISBN 9780521898164
Author James Grier
Format Hardback
Page Count 284
Imprint Cambridge University Press
Publisher Cambridge University Press
Weight(grams) 700g
Dimensions(mm) 250mm * 175mm * 17mm