At a Glance
musical notation: References & Edit History
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Additional Reading
Modern works
Systems of contemporary musical notation are detailed in Elaine Gould, Behind Bars: The Definitive Guide to Music Notation (2011); Leo Treitler, Reflections on Musical Meaning and Its Representations (2011); and Roberto Poli, The Secret Life Of Musical Notation: Defying Interpretive Traditions (2010).
Historical coverage
Historical coverage includes Willi Apel, The Notation of Polyphonic Music, 900β1600, 5th ed. (1961), a standard textbook, including staff notation and tablatures, with many facsimiles used as exercises for transcription; Erhard Karkoschka, Das Schriftbild der neuen Musik (1966), an excellently documented study of notation; Walter Kaufmann, Musical Notations of the Orient: Notational Systems of Continental East, South and Central Asia (1967); Carl Parrish, The Notation of Medieval Music (1957), with excellent facsimiles; Emanuel Winternitz, Musical Autographs from Monteverdi to Hindemith (1955), a study of musical handwriting, with many facsimiles; and Karl Wilson Gehrkens, Music Notation and Terminology, rev. ed. (1942).
Article Contributors
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Article History
| Type | Description | Contributor | Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Modified link of Web site: Humanities LibreTexts - Fundamentals. | May 09, 2026 | ||
| Add new Web site: Stanford University - Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics - Common Music Notation. | May 28, 2025 | ||
| Add new Web site: ABC Classic - The origins of music notation. | Apr 04, 2025 | ||
| Add new Web site: Monash University - LENS - The future of music notation in a digital world (PDF). | Feb 17, 2025 | ||
| Add new Web site: VIVA's Pressbooks - Open Music Theory - Other Aspects of Notation. | Dec 27, 2024 | ||
| Add new Web site: Carnegie Mellon University - School of Computer Science - Formal Semantics for Musical Notation Control Flow. | Jul 12, 2024 | ||
| Add new Web site: DigitalCommons at Cedarville - From Neumes to Notes: The Evolution of Music Notation. | May 03, 2024 | ||
| Add new Web site: DigitalCommons at Cedarville - The Research and Scholarship Symposium - Slashes, Dashes, Points, and Squares: The Development of Musical Notation. | Feb 09, 2024 | ||
| Add new Web site: Indiana University - Gallery of Interesting Music Notation. | Dec 01, 2023 | ||
| Add new Web site: Academia - Musical notation. | Sep 19, 2023 | ||
| Add new Web site: Humanities LibreTexts - Fundamentals. | Jul 28, 2023 | ||
| Add new Web site: Music of Yesterday - Brief History of Notation. | Mar 29, 2019 | ||
| Add new Web site: Music Theory is - Music Note. | Jan 06, 2019 | ||
| Removed media. | Oct 16, 2017 | ||
| Bibliography restructured and updated. | Sep 01, 2017 | ||
| Media added. | Sep 01, 2017 | ||
| Cross-references added. | Sep 01, 2017 | ||
| Add new Web site: h2g2 - Musical Notes. | Jul 05, 2015 | ||
| Add new Web site: Buzzle.com - Musical Notes. | Apr 29, 2013 | ||
| Article revised. | Jan 12, 2001 | ||
| Article revised. | Jan 12, 2000 | ||
| Article added to new online database. | Sep 09, 1998 |
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