The Cathedral Code: Engineering the Medieval Skyline - Part 4: Musical Notation: Writing Sound
The Cathedral Code: Engineering the Medieval Skyline 1 The Cathedral Code: Engineering the Medieval Skyline - Part 1: The Rib Vault: The Skeleton of Gothic Cathedrals 2 The Cathedral Code: Engineering the Medieval Skyline - Part 2: The Tread Wheel Crane: Medieval Megalifters 3 The Cathedral Code: Engineering the Medieval Skyline - Part 3: The Codex: The Invention of the Book 4 The Cathedral Code: Engineering the Medieval Skyline - Part 4: Musical Notation: Writing Sound 5 The Cathedral Code: Engineering the Medieval Skyline - Part 5: Stained Glass: Windows as Theology ← Series Home The Fragility of Tradition: Sound Fading from Memory The sacred chants of the medieval church existed within a highly fragile and delicate tradition, passed orally from one generation of singers to the next. This continuous but unstable method allowed melodies to subtly transform as they moved between monastic networks. These shifts in practice jeopardized the unified religious framework that Charlemagne sought to enforce across his vast empire,. To ensure uniformity and preservation, a new language capable of capturing and standardizing sound itself was needed. ...