Bartolomé Ramos de Pareja facts for kids

Bartolomé Ramos de Pareja (born around 1440, died 1522) was a smart Spanish person. He was a mathematician (someone who studies numbers), a music theorist (someone who studies the rules of music), and a composer (someone who writes music). His most famous work is a book in Latin called Musica practica.

Early Life and Studies

Bartolomé Ramos de Pareja was born in Baeza, a town in Spain. We know this because he wrote about it in his book Musica practica. He was probably born around the year 1440.

He studied music and became a student of a person named Juan de Monte. Later, he became a professor of music at the University of Salamanca in Spain. He got this job because he wrote important comments about the musical ideas of an ancient philosopher named Boethius.

New Ideas in Music

While at the University of Salamanca, Ramos de Pareja often debated his musical ideas with another scholar, Pedro de Osma. In 1482, he published his book Musica practica. In this book, he shared a very new idea about how musical notes should be tuned.

Before him, people mostly used a system called Pythagorean tuning. This system made some musical sounds, like perfect fourths and fifths, sound good together. But other sounds, like thirds and sixths, often sounded a bit rough or "out of tune."

Ramos de Pareja suggested a new way to divide the monochord (a single-string instrument used to study musical intervals). His new system made the thirds and sixths sound much better and more pleasant. It took a while for people to accept his new ideas, but eventually, they became very important in music.

Work in Italy

After his time in Spain, Ramos de Pareja moved to Italy. He worked mainly in Bologna. His new tuning ideas caused a lot of discussion and even arguments among other music experts. Some traditional musicians, like Franchino Gaffurio, strongly disagreed with him.

After staying in Bologna for a long time, he moved to Rome. He passed away there shortly after the year 1521.

His Book: Musica practica

Ramos de Pareja wrote Musica practica because he wanted to connect music theory (the rules of music) with music practice (how music is actually played). He wanted to make sure that the sounds musicians played were as good as the rules said they should be.

In his book, he suggested specific ways to divide the monochord to create better-sounding thirds and sixths. These ideas were later accepted by almost everyone in music. He also tried to create a new system for writing down musical notes using eight syllables: psal-li-tur-per-vo-ces-is-tas. However, this idea was not as successful.

Musica practica also talks about other interesting topics, like:

• Mensural notation: How to write down the length of notes.
• Chromatic alterations: How to change notes to make them sharper or flatter.
• Counterpoint: How to combine different melodies together.
• Musical instruments: Descriptions of instruments used at the time.
• The different types of music and their effects on people.

Ramos de Pareja was also the first person to call the teaching tool known as the Guidonian hand by the name manus Guidonis. Before him, it was just called manus musicalis. He chose the title Musica practica to show that his book was about the practical side of music, not just the math and theory. He mentioned his own musical compositions in his book, but sadly, only a few of them still exist today.