THE STAVE. The introduction of lines we owe to the Neumes. In the tenth century TIncbald took np the idea of using lines. lie wrote the syllables between the lines, and at the beginning lie indicated by the letters T and S whether the voice was to proceed by tones or semitones.
By increasing the number of lines lfuebald was enabled to write even four-part compositions in this manner. Soon after his time dots were 11S41 on the lines, leaving the spaees vacant. and the degree of the scale was indicated by a Greek letter placed at the beginning of each line. Bot the great number of line: necessary rendered the reading of this manner of iodation difficult, and it was soon abandoned. Guido of Arezzo in the eleventh century added two black lines to the red and yellow lines of the Neumes, in such a manner that the upper black line above the yellow represented F. and the second black line, drawn the vellow and red lines, A.
lines and spaces. The advantages of this system were so obvious that this stave was soon adopted in every country of Europe. As long as music was homophonous, i.e. consisted of only a single melody, this stave answered all purposes. But
the growth of polyphony soon rendered a greater number of lines and spaces an absolute neces sity. No one seems to have thought of the simple idea of writing each voice on a separate stave. Instead the four lines were extended to six, eight, twelve, and even more. In the Paris Library there is a score, dating from the middle of the thirteenth century, in which all the voices are written on a single stave. The difficulty of reading scores written in this manner led mu sicians to adopt a uniform stave of nine lines arranged in two groups, each containing four black lines. The two groups were separated by a red line. In the fifteenth century we find three staves employed for different kinds of music. Plain chant melodies were written on a stave of four lines; all other vocal music on a slave of five lines; and a stave of six lines was used for all eompositions written for the organ and virginal. After the invention of music printing the five-line stave became the universal standard of all music, except the plain chant melodies, which to this day are written on a stave of four lines.