On 27 Mar 2008 at 13:19, John Howell wrote:

> The problem (not a problem for them, but a 
> problem for us in learning to interpret late 13th 
> century Franconian notation) is that Franco used 
> the same note shape to indicate both a perfect 
> longa (worth 3 breves) and an imperfect longa 
> (worth only 2 breves), while a single breve could 
> have its normal value of 1 breve or could be 
> altered to represent the value of 2 
> breves--EXACTLY the same value of an imperfect 
> longa!  Everything depended on context, but we 
> can actually learn to read--even sightread--good 
> clear Franconian notation based on Franco's own 
> rules of interpretation.  After all, THEY did!

I believe the description above applies to *Garlandian* notation, not 
Franconian. After all, Franco of Cologne's whole innovation was the 
introduction of symbols that had absolute meaning, regardless of 
context (though not all the symbols still in use were free of 
contextual meanings).


-- 
David W. Fenton                    http://dfenton.com
David Fenton Associates       http://dfenton.com/DFA/


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