Encoding Early Music: The Challenges and Beauty of Neumatic Music Scripts

A key difference of neumatic music scripts from common music notation is their heavy reliance on orality. The musical signs were intended as reminders to trigger in the singer the correct performance of the music being read. As such, neumatic music scripts conveyed only partial musical information, often lacking indication of the exact pitch. This paper focuses on the challenges related to encoding the information conveyed by neumatic scripts in a machine-readable format. I will explore the tension inherent in considering the logical and visual domains of the encoding of early music scripts independently, but equally, and discuss some complicated examples. For instance, in neumatic music scripts the same written sign could have multiple interpretations according to the style of script where it was employed. Furthermore, while the music encoding aims to narrow down and capture the meaning of the neumes in a logical and coherent system, occasionally the significance of some neumes is under debate (e.g., quilisma) and, despite its aim for accuracy, the encoding must remain open for future interpretations.