Book Highlight: Guido D'Arezzo and Early Music Notation
- b2b764
- Feb 22
- 2 min read
Introducing: The First Notes: The Story of DO, RE, MI
(Written by Julie Andrews and Emma Walton Hamilton; Illustrated by Chiara Fedele)
Have you ever heard the song "Doe, a deer, a female deer?" Perhaps you know it from the movie "The Sound of Music," in which Julie Andrews sings it. Have you ever wondered what all those syllables known as solfège--"Do, re, mi, fa, sol, la, ti, do"--have to do with music? Or who decided that music should be notated with dots, lines, and other squiggly symbols?
Meet the medieval monk Guido D'Arezzo, who developed both an innovative style of music notation and the solfège syllables to teach it.
Explore the world of Guido D'Arezzo with your children in the book The First Notes: The Story of DO, RE, MI, written by Julie Andrews and her daughter, Emma Walton Hamilton. The book tells the story of Guido's life as a monk and his dream to write music down. While Guido D'Arezzo was not the only person to develop notation using neumes (square notes and other symbols used in medieval notation), his use of a staff (lines and spaces) and syllables allowed people to learn songs they had never heard before. His ideas were rejected at first, but they eventually were widely used and became the basis of our modern music notation system. With cheerful prose and charming illustrations, this book will introduce you and your child to Guido D'Arezzo and the history of music notation.
The First Notes is used in our Elementary A curriculum for Grades 3-5. Alongside the story of Guido, this book weaves in the words of "Doe, a deer" to explore solfége syllables, and it contains informative back matter with more about Guido and solfége. The First Notes is just one example of the many beautiful and informative books that make up the core of Music Comes Alive.
Wondering how to acquire the books for Music Comes Alive? We encourage you to start with your local library system, where many of these books may be found. In many cases, you may also find these books through second-hand book stores/websites. For your convenience, we also sell the books for our curricula on our website. You can purchase them individually or as a course bundle.
Check out Elementary A: Medieval to Modern or Shop Elementary A (Grades 3-5)
Check out Primary A: Medieval Melodies to Musical Theater or Shop Primary A (Grades K-2)
Bring music to life at home with Music Comes Alive. Our easy-to-use, literature-based curriculum empowers YOU, the parent, to teach music in your homeschool!
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