Guido o Arezzo

**Guido o Arezzo** (kent as **Guido Aretinus**, **Guido Aretino**, **Guido da Arezzo**, **Guido Monaco**, **Guido d'Arezzo**, **Guido Monaco Pomposiano**, or **Guy of Arezzo** or **Guy d'Arezzo** an aw) (991/992 – efter 1033) wis a muisic theorist o Mediaeval times. He is thocht o as the inventor o modren muisical notation (staff notation) the notation that replaced neumatic notation; his text, the *Micrologus*, wis the seicont-maist-widely distreibute wark on muisic in the Middle Ages (efter the writins o Boethius).

## Life
Guido wis a Benedictine monk frae the Italian city-state o Arezzo. Resairch has his *Micrologus* tae 1025 or 1026; since Guido stated in a letter that he wis 34 whan he scrieved it, his birth date is thocht tae be aroond 991 or 992. His airly thrift wis spent at the monastery o Pomposa, on the Adriatic coast near Ferrara. While there, he noted hou agalis the sangsters minded Gregorian chants.

He came up wi a wey fur teachin the sangsters tae lairn chants in a short time, an quickly became weel kent ootthrou northren Italy. Housoiver, aroond 1025 he wis forced tae leave the abbey due tae the hostility frae the ither monks at the abbey, wha gainstaund his muisical innovations. He flittit tae Arezzo, a toun wi nae abbey, but that did hae muckle cathedral sangsters. Bishop Tedald invited him tae see tae thair trainin.

While at Arezzo, he makit a new wey fur teachin, sic as staff notation an the uise o the "ut–re–mi–fa–sol–la" (do–re–mi–fa–so–la) mnemonic. The ut-re-mi-fa-sol-la syllables ur taen fae the stairtin syllables o ilka o the furst sax hauf-lines o the furst stanza o the sang *[[Ut queant laxis]]*, whase text is attributit tae the Italian monk an scholart Paulus Diaconus, (tho the muisical line aither shares a common forebeir wi the airlier settin o Horace's "Ode to Phyllis" (*[[Odes (Horace)|Odes]]* 4.11), recordit in the Montpellier paper H425, or micht hae been taen frae it). Giovanni Battista Doni is kent fur haein changed the name o note "Ut" (C), renaming it "Do" (in the "Do Re Mi ..." sequence kent as solfège). A seivent note, "Si" (frae the initials fur "Sancte Iohannes," Latin fur St. John the Baptist) wis addit shortly efter tae complete the diatonic scale. In anglophone kintras, "Si" wis changed tae "Ti" bi Sarah Glover in the nineteent hunneryear sae that ivery syllable micht stairt wi a different letter (this freed up Si fur later uise as Sol-sharp an aw). "Ti" is uised in tonic sol-fa and in the sang "Do-Re-Mi".

The *Micrologus*, scrieved at the cathedral an dedicatit tae Tedald, has Guido's teachin method as it had fordert bi that time. It suin gaint the attention o Pape John XIX, wha bid Guido come tae Rome. Maist like he traivelt there in 1028, but suin returnt tae Arezzo due tae puir heal. It wis then that he annoonced in a letter tae Michael o Pomposa ("") his discovery o the "ut–re–mi" muisical mnemonic. Puckle is kent o him efter this time.

## The Guidonian Haund
Guido is gien credit fur the invention o the Guidonian haund, a wide uised mnemonic seistem whaur note names ar mappt tae pairts o the human haund. Houaniver, ainly a limitit form o the Guidonian haund is actual descrieved bi him, an the fu elaboratit seistem o naitural, haurd an saft hexachords cannae be siccar attreibutit tae him.

In the 12t yearhunner, there wis a development in teachin an lairnin muisic in a mair eident manner. The haund, mair nor a hunneryear aifter his daith, alloued musickers tae label a speceific jynt or fingertip wi the gamut (kent as the hexachord in the modren era). The uiss o speceific jynts o the haund an fingertips changed the wey in that fowk wid lairn an keep in mind solmisation syllables. This technique wid become mair common in the 17t an 18t yearhunner. It alloued musickers tae sing an keep in mind langer sections o muisic an coonterpynt durin performance.

## Legacy
A statue tae him wis pit up in his hametoun o Arezzo. He is ane o the weel-kent Tuscans that wis honoured wi a statue in the Loggiatio o the Uffizi in Florence.

The computer notation seistem GUIDO music notation is cried efter him an his invention.

The "International Guido d'Arezzo Polyphonic Contest" (Concorso Polifónico Guido d'Arezzo) is cried efter him.

Francisco Valls' controversial *Missa Scala Aretina* teuk its name frae Guido Aretinus' scale.

## References