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This popped up on Facebutt today:
In the early 11th century (1,000's), an Italian monk named Guido of Arezzo grew frustrated with how long it took to teach music.
At the time, melodies were passed down only by memory, a slow and often inaccurate process.
Choirs could spend years just learning the songs they needed for services.
Guido knew there had to be a better way. 🎶
He developed a groundbreaking system using a four-line staff. For the first time, a writer could show the exact pitch of a note, enabling someone to 'read' and sing a melody without ever having heard it before.
This single innovation was revolutionary. It meant music could be preserved perfectly and shared widely.
But Guido didn't stop there.
To help singers remember the notes, he created a clever memory aid based on a popular hymn to John the Baptist, "Ut queant laxis."
He took the first syllable of each line of the Latin hymn —Ut, Re, Mi, Fa, Sol, La— and assigned it to a note on the scale.
This system, known as solmization, was the beginning of the solfège (Do-Re-Mi) that music students still learn today. "Ut" was later changed to the easier-to-sing "Do."
Thanks to Guido's work, the time it took to train a singer dropped from nearly a decade to a year or two. His methods spread across Europe, creating a common musical language that paved the way for complex works like symphonies and operas. 🎼

Even in MIDI the technique really hasn't changed much.

wish I read music