Curiosities of Music - online book

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320                    CURIOSITIES OF MUSIC.
The fame of his wonderful results in choir-training, soon reached Rome, and the Pope, John XIX.,* sent an invitation to the still ostracized monk, to come to Rome.
Guido is credited with having made many changes in the notation and harmony of his day. The hexachord system is attributed (justly or unjustly) to him. He also is said to have intro­duced lines of different colors into the staff, for the purpose of aidirfg the singer to recognize cer­tain notes with more facility. He says in his Micrologus " In order that sounds may be dis­cerned with certainty, we mark some lines with various colors, so that the eye may immediately distinguish a note, in whatever place it may be. For the third of the scale [C] a bright saffron line. The sixth [F] adjacent to C is of bright vermilion, and the proximity of others to these colors, will be an index to the whole. If there were neither letter, nor colored lines to the Neumes, it would be like having a well without a rope—the water plentiful, but of no use to those who see it."
While Guido does not lay claim to having invented the colored lines, it is ^iobable that he
•There U some ambiguity regarding the titW of tbia pontiff. S»» authorities call him John zx., and the next Joji. (1276;, the in t Quoted by SUiner and Barrett, Diet. p. 31k.