An explanation of the modern German names for notes will be easily understood in this connection.  In the German nomenclature the letters of the alphabet stand for the notes of the scale as in the English, with the exception of B. This B, or “round” B, in the German system stands for B[flat], which is more logical than our English usage, since our flat is merely a slightly modified form of b.  The German B natural is our letter h, which is merely a corruption of the square b, [illustration], which by the addition of a line in time became our [natural].  The Germans have carried the flatting and sharping of tones to a logical conclusion in their present nomenclature, for by “sharping” the sound of a single letter it is raised a semitone from its normal diapason, thus F becomes Fis, G Gis.  On the other hand, in order to lower a tone, the letter representing it is “flatted,” and F is called Fes, G Ges, the only exception to these rules being the B which we have already considered.

In France the Guidonian system was adhered to closely, and to this day the becarre is used only as an accidental, to indicate that the note to which it refers has been flatted before.  The naturel (which has the same shape) is used to designate a note that is natural to the key; thus the distinction is made between an accidental and a note that is common to the key.  In F major, for instance, B[natural] is si becarre, A[natural] would be la naturel.  Our modern sharp is merely another form of the natural or square B ([natural]) which gradually came to be used before any note, signifying that it was raised or sharped a half-tone; the flat lowered it a semitone, and after a while the natural received its present place between the sharp and flat.  The first instance we have of the sharp being used is in the thirteenth century, when (in the Rondels of Adam de la Hale) it takes the form of a cross [x] (the German word for the sharp still remains kreuz).  The French word diese (sharp) comes from the Greek diesis, a term used to indicate the raising of the voice in the chromatic scale.

And now we have to speak of notation and its development.  Thus far we have found only two ways in which musical sounds were indicated by the ancients.  First, we remember the invention of Aristophanes of Alexandria, his accents, high, low, and circumflex.  Then we know from Ptolemy, Boethius, and Alypius that letters were used to designate the different tones; but as there is no music extant in this notation to prove the theory, we need not trouble ourselves with it.

The system of Aristophanes, however, was destined to become the nucleus from which our modern notation sprang.  We know that an elementary idea, clearly expressed, has more chances of living than has a more complicated system, however ingenious the latter may be.  Now this system is so plain that we will find it is common to many aboriginal peoples, for instance the American Indians have a system very similar.