Did You Know ……

          Before the 15th century, western music was written by hand and preserved in manuscripts, usually bound in large volumes. The best known examples of these are medieval manuscripts of monophonic chant. In the case of medieval polyphony, such as the motet, the parts were written in separate portions of facing pages. This process was aided by the advent of mensural notation to clarify rhythm and was paralleled by the medieval practice of composing parts of polyphony sequentially, rather than simultaneously as in later times. Manuscripts showing parts together in score format were rare, and limited mostly to organum, especially that of the Notre Dame school.

          Even after the advent of music printing, much music continued to exist solely in manuscripts well into the 18th century.