Those who play stringed instruments should generally take one piece of advice: and that is, not to loosen the bass strings so much that they make no music, and not to tighten the treble strings so much that they break. Great prudence and skill are necessary to place all instruments in such a middle ground and tone that neither the music nor the strings are lost. How well Saint Paul tuned the human monochord original: "monachordio humano"; the monochord was a single-stringed instrument used to teach musical ratios, here used as a metaphor for the human soul and body. when he said: Let your service be according to reason. A reference to Romans 12:1: "rationabile obsequium vestrum." Do not loosen the strings of sensuality so much that the music of good works is lost, nor tighten the spirit so much that you bring death to the body. One can also lose just as much by "a card too many" as by "a card too few." A gambling metaphor meaning to do too much or too little. Let sensuality be tuned with reason, and reason with God, if you wish to make good music. The third type is Instrumental Music. This is the musical harmony caused by an instrument with help and aid. There are three types of instruments for music. Some are called natural, and these are humans, whose singing is called musical harmony. Others are artificial instruments of touch, such as the vihuela: a Spanish Renaissance stringed instrument similar to a guitar but tuned like a lute, the harp, and their like; the music of which is called artificial or Rhythmic. The third type of instruments are of air, such as the flute, the dulzaina: a traditional double-reed wind instrument, and organs; the music of which is called Organic. This is what the philosophers called it, according to what the notable musician likely Andreas Ornithoparchus, a 16th-century German music theorist known for his work "Musicae Activae Micrologus." Andrea says in the first book, chapter eleven; although sometimes poets, taking the name "organ" more broadly, say it signifies every kind of instrument. Harmonic music, says Boethius (c. 477–524 AD), the Roman senator whose writings defined the medieval musical curriculum. Boethius, is the faculty and science of measuring and judging with reason the differences of sound caused by low and high voices. I treat this music in all six books, although I do not forget to apply it to the spirit. Those of you who know how to sing or play an instrument, so that you may succeed in choosing and selecting music, listen to the prophet who says: Sing to the Lord a new song, for he has done marvelous things. Psalm 98:1. The "new man," says Saint Jerome, renewed by the water of baptism, must sing new songs. All good meritorious works that lead us to the new life of grace and glory are called "new songs." He says, then, that we should do good works, and for this he provides the cause: Because the Lord did wonders. Look into each of the three musics that we have treated in this section, and we will

find wonders which invite us to serve and praise God. In the heavens and the elements we shall draw knowledge of Creation; in man, knowledge of Redemption; and in the perfection of instruments, the conservation and governance that our Lord performed; for which we must sing with good works.

A decorative floral fleuron

On another division of Music. Chapter 3.

Placentino likely referring to a theorist from Piacenza, or a specific commentator on musical theory. says there are two manners of music: one is called inquisitive or theoretical, and the other active or practical. To the theoretical musician belongs the measuring and weighing of the consonances formed in the instruments—not with the ears, for that is an impertinent thing for this purpose—but with wit and reason. Among these musicians were Boethius, Plutarch, Jacques Lefèvre d'Étaples (c. 1455–1536), a French humanist also known as Jacobus Faber Stapulensis. Stapulensis, and many others who wrote on mathematics. Active or practical music is defined by Guido of Arezzo (c. 991–1033), the monk credited with inventing the musical staff. Guido at the beginning of his manual, saying: Practical music is a liberal art that truly administers the principles of singing. All singers and players who are liberal referring to the "Liberal Arts," the traditional curriculum of a free person. and certain in composing and playing music by art can be called practical musicians; among whom were Saint Gregory, Ambrose, Bernard, and excellent men who exist today in Spain and outside of it. This practical music is also of two kinds: namely, "plain" and "organ" plainchant and polyphony/measured music.. Plain music, says Saint Bernard at the beginning of his treatise on music, is a rule that determines the nature and form of regular chants. The nature consists in the arrangement of the modes: the ancient system of scales used in church music, and the form consists in the composition of the notes. Measurable music, or "of the organ," says Andrea, is a diverse quantity of signs and a diverse inequality of figures, which are increased or diminished according to the time, prolation, or mode placed before them. The origin of these two sciences, says Hugh of Saint Victor (c. 1096–1141), a mystical theologian and philosopher. Hugh of Saint Victor, was man. There are two things to consider in man: one is good, and the other bad. The good is the interior man—the soul, ability, nature, and finally the understanding—with which he can contemplate and speculate on celestial, divine, and human things. The bad is vice and necessity. Because this is not nature, it must be cast out as much as is possible for man.