mensural notation
Rhythmically specified scoring
Mensural notation is a system of musical notation used in European music from the late medieval through Renaissance periods, roughly 1250–1600.
Unlike modern notation, note shapes indicated both pitch and duration, with complex rules governing rhythmic relationships.
The system preceded the bar lines and time signatures that standardized later Western music.
The motet survives only in mensural notation.
- staffOrganization's workers collectively
- clefStaff pitch indicator
- ligaturesThreads for tying off
- colorationSurface hue arrangement
- semibreveNote lasting four beats
rest · note · imperfection · minim · modus · time signature · alteration · plainchant · tempus · Gregorian chant · barline · medieval · cantus · syncopation · proportions · Renaissance · manuscript · choirbook
- musical notationforte, score, piano, sheet music, lead sheet
- Early Musicmedieval music, Gregorian chant, Renaissance music, motet, baroque music
- Baroque MusicBach, Vivaldi, Handel, harpsichord, Vivaldi Four Seasons
- ancient writinghieroglyphs, cuneiform, papyrus, scroll, clay tablets
- Neumespunctum, virga, trigon, liquescent, mora