Abstract
The trajectory of music notation’s development is inextricably linked with the genre of the motet. The thirteenth-century motet made new demands upon the existing notation system, specifically with respect to the notation of rhythm. The syllabic settings of texts in the motet’s upper voices required a notation that could distinguish durations between single notes drawn as individual note shapes. In polyphony, prior to the emergence of the motet, the grouping of notes in ligatures indicated specific rhythmic patterns, but when one pitch was associated with one syllable of text, these ligatures were broken apart. There were syllabic settings of texts