Chapter Four

The hymn to Saint John the Baptist received its name from its opening words: "So that with relaxed strings." original: Ut queant laxis. This hymn, traditionally attributed to Paul the Deacon (c. 720–799), was used by Guido d'Arezzo to teach singers how to find pitches. "So that your servants may be able to sing the wonders of your deeds with relaxed vocal cords: Cleanse the guilt of the stained lip: O Saint John." original: Ut queant laxis resonare fibris: Mira gestorum: famuli tuorum: Solve polluti labij reatum: Sancte Ioannes. From this, if we correctly inspect the first syllables after each punctuation mark, we extract these six voices: ut, re, mi, fa, sol, la. Each of these is separated from its neighbor in the series by a whole tone, except for fa, which departs from mi by the space of a semitone A semitone is the smallest interval in this musical system, roughly half of a whole tone.. It will therefore have two tones below it and two above.

When the first letter G is placed with the syllable ut, the whole is called Gamma ut This is the origin of the word "gamut," meaning the full range of notes.. Similarly, from the letter A and the syllable re, Are is made; from the letter B and the syllable mi, Bmi; from the letter C and the syllable fa, Cfa; from D and sol, Dsol; and from E and la, Ela.

In order to imitate the teaching of Boethius An influential 6th-century philosopher whose works on music were the standard textbooks of the Middle Ages., which divides the whole harmony by tetrachords A group of four notes., Guido emits another hexachord A group of six notes. like an offshoot when he reaches the fourth place, which is C faut. If the syllable ut is placed with the letter C (which already has fa), the whole compound is called Cfaut. This continues with d sol re and e la mi, where the first hexachord ends.

But since the letter F follows, the syllable ut is placed again with the fa of the second tetrachord, which is the fourth voice of that second tetrachord. Therefore, since it is F fa, once ut is joined to it, it receives that name (Ffaut), followed by G sol re and A la mi. And lest he seem to have ignored the similarity of the outer notes of the octave original: diapason, he begins to place the hexachord again. Since we have two voices located there from the two previous tetrachords (namely the second and third), the letter G with sol re and the added ut is called by that name: G sol re ut. This continues with A la mi re, where the third hexachord is completed.

At this point, two notes are coupled together in one place: fa and mi. The first is B fa B-flat and the second is B square mi B-natural. As the letters show, we recognize these voices to be unequal, one being higher than the other, and thus that tone is divided into two semitones. This is followed by C sol fa ut, because just as the second hexachord is joined to the first in that place, the whole compound is so named.

It continues with D la sol re, and so on: E la mi, F fa ut, G sol re ut, A la mi re, B fa, and B square mi, just as before. These hexachords could be multiplied to infinity, according to the capacity of the instrument. But since in every science one must eventually reach an end, the repetition of hexachords now ceases. Therefore, in C sol fa, ut is no longer placed. Instead, we proceed to D la sol, where the sixth hexachord remains, and the seventh completes it in E la. Thus, he placed seven hexachords separated by seven voices, as he saw fit, which the subject figure will make clear. Do you not see the correct figure of Guido? But in Ripa Likely referring to a different theorist or a specific school of thought. it is not so, but rather through measures weight of?...

The high octave original: Diapasō acuta with seven intermediate notes, which is called the whole song. The low octave original: Diapason grauis which is called the whole song, including the seven intermediate notes.

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the next-to-highest of the extreme notes original Greek: paranete hyperbolaion the third of the extreme notes original Greek: trite hyperbolaion the highest of the disjoined notes original Greek: nete diezeugmenon the next-to-highest of the disjoined notes original Greek: paranete diezeugmenon the next-to-highest of the joined notes original Greek: paranete synemmenon the third of the disjoined notes original Greek: trite diezeugmenon the next-to-highest of the joined notes A repetition of the pitch indicating overlapping systems. the next-to-the-middle note original Greek: paramese, equivalent to B-natural. the third of the joined notes original Greek: trite synemmenon

p (high a)
tone
o (g)
tone
n (f)
m (e)
tone
l (d)
tone
k (c)
semitone
□ The "square b" or B-natural.
i (b-flat)
[interval]
h (a)
tone
6 (g)
tone
f (f)
semitone
e (e)
tone
d (d)
[interval]
c (c)
the whole
b (B)
tone
a (A)

the index-finger note of the middle strings original Greek: lichanos meson the next-to-lowest of the middle strings original Greek: parypate meson the lowest of the middle strings original Greek: hypate meson the index-finger note of the principal strings original Greek: lichanos hypaton the next-to-lowest of the principal strings original Greek: parypate hypaton the lowest of the principal strings original Greek: hypate hypaton