c. 1025Reputable sourceWell documented
Guido of Arezzo Invents the Musical Staff
On the timeline · around c. 1025 · The Medieval World
What happened
In eleventh-century Arezzo, the monk and music teacher Guido of Arezzo devised a set of horizontal lines — the musical staff — on which the exact pitch of each note could be shown by its position. He also developed a system of solmization, naming notes with the syllables ut–re–mi–fa–sol–la, the ancestors of today's do–re–mi.
Why it matters
Guido's staff let music be written down precisely and read at sight for the first time, so a melody could be shared accurately across distance and time. Every page of Western sheet music since descends from his invention.
Sources
- Medievalists.net. Medieval Music: Introduction to Gregorian Chant · Reputable source
Related timelines
- History of Writing → — A way to write music as precisely as words