Max Derrickson

Scientist and author Lewis Thomas once suggested how the people of Earth should communicate with the universe: “I would vote for Bach, all of Bach, streamed out into space, over and over again. We would be bragging of course, but it is surely excusable to put the best possible face on at the beginning of […]

This is what appears to be the first page of a folio manuscript that was found near Rome.   The piece is plainchant with melismas and is dated at 1512 AD. The squarish notes in the staves are called “heightened neumes.”   This style of musical notation is not completely understood today, but you can see that […]