Music from the Earliest Notations to the Sixteenth Century

take place impersonally, without direct oral/aural contact, music became that much less a process or a
social act, and that much more a tangible, autonomous thing. The notion of a “piece” of music could only
arise when music began to be thought of in terms of actual pieces of paper or parchment. For these far-
reaching conceptual changes, we have the legendary Guido, the greatest ear trainer of them all, to thank.
He turned out to be even more a trainer of eyes and minds than of ears.