The introduction of writing alongside orality marked a cognitive revolution, allowing thought to be externalized and fixed on a permanent medium. Musical writing, though similar in some respects to verbal writing, differs sharply: unlike much modern verbal literature designed for autonomous reading, written music does not generate a literary art whose aesthetic experience is complete in the mere act of reading, as it inherently requires its aural realization. Musical notation does not nullify the experiential dimension of the performative experience, since musical creativity is not only the prerogative of a disembodied res cogitans. Instead, it facilitates a more profound comprehension of the musical phenomenon, as evidenced by observing the evolution and integration of monodic and polyphonic practices in medieval music. Musical writing has not replaced the oral and performative dimension, but rather has complemented it, thereby opening up new compositional possibilities and allowing for an intermodal sensory hybridisation.
SERENA ALLEGRA (Thu,) studied this question.