We have all learned now that stories were traditionally passed down orally, then turned into handwritten books and finally, with the invention of the wonderful Gutenberg Printing Press in 1445, were finally printed. This made the art of making books much cheaper and efficient. But have you ever thought of how music was printed? Music also took its transition from being passed down orally to being handwritten and decorated, just like the music we saw in class a few weeks ago on vellum. People spent much of their time making sheet music in this way, but, as it was such a time consuming process, most people simply stuck to the old tradition of transferring their knowledge of music orally.
