Tens of thousands of years ago when humans were new they began to make sounds no other animal on earth had made before. This was speech by modern man. Speech was important. It told us how to do tasks, told us where to hunt and perhaps even speech entertained us as we migrated. Humans are creative living beings and in the growing pool of speech, along with the mundane, was born fiction: stories that were told about hunting and the moon. Maybe even fire and the dreaded saber tooth cat or that enormous ape that was nine feet tall. I forgot its name but it was huge and crashed through underbrush to chase our forefathers. The stories that were told for generations were fragile, for if a storyteller died so did his stories. No one invented how to draw speech. We could not write sheet music. Sadly, it was like this for some time.
Stories were not the only thing we excelled at, humans loved music. When a song was played, it was unique to everyone who played it. Maybe one thought the beat was one way and perhaps another thought different. We could write stories down why we could write music. Sheet Music is the written representation of song. If one is given sheet music in theory, that music will sound the same every time it is played. The notes are fixed only the instrument will change. Sheet music can be easy to write if you know the letters then it is merely putting them where you want them to go. However, I over simplify, music writing is hard and really can only be done by those that are touched with that gift. Anyone can write a story about a dog and cat going on an adventure but few can write a piece of music that touches you.
Sheet music looks very unassuming. Just bars on a white page, really if one did know the letters could one arrange them into anything that did not resemble dropping a tray of silverware? Songs especially those that have stay power are works of art. Generations have listened to Mozart and Liszt and generations more after us will as well. They are timeless, no matter how the music changes, these classics will always remain masterpieces, and thanks to Sheet music, we can enjoy them repeatedly.
