Transforming Sounds into Symbols … Symbols into Sounds

A less obvious transformation, but one essential for the transmission, preservation, and evolution of music, is the process by which a composer transforms ideas into musical notation. By transforming sounds into visual symbols, music was able to advance from the simple melodic lines of chant to the complex multivoiced work of a Mahler symphony. At first acting as merely a memory aid, the notation of Western music evolved over centuries, with composers becoming progressively more precise in their instructions to performers.