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Early note shapes showing melodic direction rather than exact pitch.
Also known as: Chant notation, Square notation
Neumes are the note shapes of medieval chant, written above the text to show the shape of a melody. Early neumes give direction without pitch, which means a chant written before the staff cannot be read as a tune without a surviving oral tradition.
Denote the shapes of a chant melody, written above the text in medieval and later liturgical manuscripts.
Contexts: Music
Do not specify pitch in their earliest form, giving only the direction of movement, so a melody notated this way cannot be reconstructed from the page alone.
Contexts: Music
Are still used in modern chant books on a four-line staff, where the square notation does fix pitch.
Contexts: Music
Small square, diamond and hooked shapes drawn in groups above a line of text or on a four-line staff.