The various notational systems used in ancient music, including alphabetic notations, neumes, and other systems.
Pitch notation: The system used to represent the frequency of a sound as a musical note.
Rhythm notation: The system used to represent the duration and timing of musical notes and rests.
Clefs: Symbols used to indicate the position of notes on the staff.
Staff: The horizontal lines used to represent pitch in sheet music.
Time signatures: The notation that indicates the number of beats per measure and the type of note that receives one beat.
Key signatures: The notation that indicates the key of the music and which notes to play as sharps or flats.
Tempo markings: The notation that indicates the speed or rate of the music.
Dynamics: The notation that indicates the volume or intensity of the music.
Notational conventions: The agreed-upon rules and symbols used in a given musical style or tradition.
Ornamentation: The embellishments or decorations added to musical notes to enrich the melody or rhythm.
Neumes: Developed in the 9th century in Western Europe, neumes indicate pitch direction rather than precise pitch. They were used to aid memory rather than notation itself.
Greek Musical Notation: Dating back to the 6th century BCE, this notation system denoted pitch intervals and melodic contour using letters of the Greek alphabet.
Babylonian Music Notation: Dating back to the mid-2nd millennium BCE, there are surviving clay tablets that show a graphic representation of rhythm using dots and lines in relation to time signatures.
Indian Classical Music Notation: This traditional form of musical notation dates back to the 3rd century BCE and is used to notate the pitch, duration, and ornamentation of ragas or melodic modes.
Chinese Music Notation: Developed around 800 BCE, this notation system used symbols to denote pitch, rhythm, and ornamentation for instruments such as the guqin and xiao.
Mayan Music Notation: Based on vase paintings from the Classic Period (600–900 CE), this notation system used symbols and hieroglyphs to depict the musical instruments and possible scales used in Mayan music.