James Grier Publishes Major Notation Study

Professor of Music History James Grier has just released a new book with Cambridge University Press, Musical Notation in the West.

Published by Cambridge University Press, the book is part of the Cambridge Introductions to Music series, designed to tackle topics of importance in the education of undergraduate and graduate students in music, as well as general readers.

Dr. Grier's fourth book outlines the development of musical notation in the West - the written system for describing music that musicians now take for granted, but which is, of course, deeply sophisticated, with a long history. Grier examines the development of this system in depth, combining chronological and thematic approaches to show the historical and musical contexts that precipitated it.

Dr. Grier is highly regarded amongst scholars of Musicology and Medieval Studies for his expertise in medieval music and liturgy, and his knowledge of editing and notational practices. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. A recipient of numerous grants from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, he recently received an Insight grant for his project "The Tract in Eleventh-Century Aquitaine.”