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one of the biggest issues with neumatic notation is that it doesn't show rhythm

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there's a flow to a chant

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some notes are held longer than others

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sometimes it speeds up

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sometimes it slows down

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sometimes there are pauses

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it was a learned art, you had to get the feel of knowing the standard way to employ these effects

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chant in the Catholic Church was officially monophonic

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a single line of music at a time

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but it's likely that musicians in the Middle Ages experimented with polyphony

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multiple lines of music at a time

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probably improvised based off of the written chant

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Schola Cantorum

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school of singers

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were given a specific written chant

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most of the singers would sing the written chant

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there would be a few people who would be able to improvise below or above the written line

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these improvisations were the first experiments in polyphony

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polyphony

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Drone

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a simple held note below the musical line of the chant

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Parallel Organum

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from treatise in the 800s

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singing in a parallel line to a given chant

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e.g. a second person would sing the same chant up a perfect fifth, or up an octave

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Similar Organum

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two lines moving together in similar motion

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followed the same contours of a music line, moving like a school of fish

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Contrary Organum

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one voice would go up while the other voice goes down

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there were complicated rules that followed because there were only certain consonances and dissonances were allowed

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all of this was improvised

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so it took quite a musical mind to think of the right consonances and dissonances in real time

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Notre Dame in 11th and 12th centuries

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1250 a system of notation that would indicate rhythm

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Johannes de Garlandia

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French music theorist

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for the first time in over 1000 years, standard rhythm was notated

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"Synonoma magistri"

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concerning measurable music

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came up with various combinations of neumes linked together called ligatures

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six rhythmic modes

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basic unit of time was called a tempus

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a tempus always got one beat

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there always had to be groupings of three beats together

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two kinds of notes: a long and a breve

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obvious problems

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only six rhythmic modes

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doesn't give a lot of freedom

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Franco of Cologne

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composer and music theorist

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created a new system of notation

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"The Art of Measurable Music"

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create note shapes that directly indicated rhythm

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music was still grouped in threes called a perfection

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each voice could not have unique shape and unique rhythmic pattern

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the limitation was the music always had to be grouped in groups of three, or perfections