Why do notes start with C and not a?

The C major scale has no sharps or flats, this scale was created before the piano. When they created the piano (or whatever similar instrument before) they wanted all the sharps and flats to be on the black keys. Since there are no sharps or flats in CM it became the one with no black keys.

pianostreet.com - why does the most natural scale start on 'C', instead of 'A'? - Piano Street

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Like most things in music, the development was gradual and is still ongoing, and went in lurches as other events happened in history. Western music starts out from the early Christian church which borrowed both from the Greeks, who had figured out some harmony things, and the Jews, from whom they got the idea of chants. The Greek intervals, speaking generally, led toward these "modes". The chants were sacred and were not supposed to be changed, and went along the modes too. It was all oral, and it took forever for the boys to memorize one chant after the other by copying the master singers. Those chants were along those "modes". This went on for hundreds of years. After the collapse of the Roman Empire the different towns were like islands. Then came the establishment of the Holy Roman Empire, which tried to unit all Christendom, and to do so the rituals and so forth had to be unified. How do you communicate things if you have poor roads, no radio, telephone or Internet, and everything is oral? Writing is the answer, so the way of writing was improved, and ways of written music were also being sought by the existing powers. Charlemagne was given a mandate by the pope, if I remember correctly. Meanwhile monks and scholars were already trying ways to make teaching students (to memorize) these chants easier. You could make a little squiggle around a main note to show how the notes dance around it over here going higher and lower - so the neumes dancing around a single line got invented. It was like a quick memo for things that were memorized. D'Arezzi's revolution was to look at the structure (that was already in use) underneath that music - and he isolated the notes with their related intervals of a "scale". He gave them the names Do Re Mi etc. from that chant we all know about. There were spots on his hand which represented the Do Re Mi etc. so he could point to the "note" and the singers could sing it. The writing system came from this too. He did not invent the modes or the intervals - they already existed in the music. Up to then people had to memorize entire portions of chants. The idea that you could sing a note, another note, and another note, and create a chant out of this succession of notes, was mind boggling - that you didn't have to hear someone sing it first. The idea of looking at a sheet of paper, sing note after note, and end up singing a chant you had never heard before totally blew their minds. We take it for granted. Since the political agenda was to unify the European Christian world, partly via the religious rituals, there was a lot of support for spreading this system. Therefore it could take off. The time was ripe for it. Once there was a way of writing music, ideas could also get a lot more complex and it developed from there. And is still developing.

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Why can't some people read music?

You may have a condition called musical dyslexia (also known as dysmusia) This is a similar condition to dyslexia but involves difficulty with processing music notes rather than words.

essential-music-theory.com - I can't seem to learn to read music? - The Essentials of Music Theory

I can't seem to learn to read music? by Kelly

(Brighton,Ontario,Canada) Hi,

The question I have is I have never been able to learn how to read music, I have tried many times, I've tried to learn how to play piano, clarinet and flute and after less two years have had to quit because my teachers get frustrated with me. If the letters are above the notes I can read the letters, but take them away I am lost. My teachers have tried to tell me what keys are what notes but this does nothing. I am just wanting to learn how to play music for fun not get into any sort of band or group.

Is there a name for individuals who can't learn to read music notes? Is there a way these types of people can learn to read music without having to learn how to read the actual notes but can learn with the letters instead? How would I go about telling a teacher this or asking this question?

Any advice would be most helpful, as I find music very relaxing and don't want my disabilities preventing me from doing the things I love and am interested in.

Thanks

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