Musical notation has not always existed: in the West, musical traditions have often depended on transmission from mouth to ear, and ear to mouth.
This comprehensive study investigates the breadth of use of musical notation in Carolingian Europe, including many examples previously unknown in studies of notation, to deliver a crucial foundational model for the understanding of later West.
Although the Ancient Greeks had a form of musical notation, it was not passed on to the medieval Latin West.
Musical notation has not always existed: in the West, musical traditions have often depended on transmission from mouth to ear, and ear to mouth