What is Musical notation?
'''Musical notation''', also known as simply '''music notation''', is a way of writing down [[music]] so that anyone can play it. Many systems have been used in the past to write music. Today most musicians in the Western world write [[note (music)|musical notes]] on a [[stave (music)|stave]]: five parallel lines with four spaces in between them. However, there are many others, some of which are in use today in different [[culture]]s. Writing music down makes it possible for a [[composer]] who makes up (composes) a piece of music to let other people know how the music is supposed to sound. That music can then be played or sung by anybody who can “read music”. If music is not written down, then people can only learn other people’s music by listening to it and trying to copy it. This is how [[folk music]] was traditionally learned. == ''Some early ways of writing music'' == === Cuneiform === The earliest kind of notation was written on tablets using a way of writing called [[cuneiform]]. Music from [[Nippur]] from about 2000 B.C. has been found which seems to give an approximate idea of how the music should be played. A tablet from 1250 B.C. has musical notation which shows the names of the [[string (musical instrument)|strings]] of a [[lyre]]. They are the earliest records we have of written music. === Ancient Greece === [[File:Delphichymn.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Photograph of the original stone at [[Delphi, Greece|Delphi]] containing the second of the two [[hymn]]s to [[Apollo]]. The music notation is the line of occasional symbols ''above'' the main, uninterrupted line of Greek lettering.]] Musical notation from [[Ancient Greece]] showed the notes in more detail than the earlier cuneiform. It shows the [[pitch (music)|pitch]] (how high or low the note is) and how long it lasts. It sometimes give an idea of the [[harmony]]. It was used from at least the [[6th century BC]] until about the [[4th century]] AD. === Early European musical notation === [[File:EarlyMusicNotation.JPG|left|thumb|Early European Musical