Signposting Mutation.pdf

Adam Whittaker's article "Signposting Mutation in some Fourteenth- and Fifteenth-Century Music Theory Treatises" explores the concept of hexachordal mutation in medieval and Renaissance music theory. The solmisation system, attributed to Guido d'Arezzo, is based on the application of syllables ut, re, mi, fa, sol, la to musical notes C D E F G A. The system was later expanded to incorporate overlapping hexachords, allowing singers to move seamlessly across the musical space using only the six syllables.

The article examines the approaches taken by theorists such as Johannes Tinctoris in exemplifying hexachordal mutation in their treatises. Tinctoris's Expositio manus (c.1472) includes musical examples with syllabic annotations, a practice that is almost without precedent. The article compares the approaches taken by different theorists and tracks the influence of their approaches forward into the sixteenth century.

The Guidonian Hand and solmisation are enduring topics in medieval and Renaissance music theory, with implications for instruction in music up to the present. However, the importance of solmisation is being reconsidered, with some scholars questioning the dominance of the hexachord in conceptions of musical space. The article suggests that the hexachord was not necessarily the foundation of all conceptions of tonality, and that notions of octave duplication also underpinned conceptions of musical space.

Key points:

The solmisation system is based on the application of syllables ut, re, mi, fa, sol, la to musical notes C D E F G A.
The system was expanded to incorporate overlapping hexachords, allowing singers to move seamlessly across the musical space.
Theorists such as Johannes Tinctoris exemplified hexachordal mutation in their treatises, with varying approaches.
The importance of solmisation is being reconsidered, with some scholars questioning the dominance of the hexachord in conceptions of musical space.
* Notions of octave duplication also underpinned conceptions of musical space in medieval and Renaissance music.