Plainchant notation of thirteenth-century France (neumes)
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| virga | punctum | podatus | clivis | torculus | porrectus | scandicus | climacus |
Each of these neumes of one, two, or three notes, coincides with one syllable of text. A change of syllable requires a new neume.
Modal rhythm of sacred music
Six rhythmic "modes," groupings of sounds that move by patterns of longae and breves, comparable to poetic meters:
| 1. | L-B-L-B-L-B-L | "trochaic" |  |
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| 2. | B-L-B-L-B-L | "iambic" |  |
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| 3. | L-B-B-L-B-B-L-B-B-L | "dactylic" |  |
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| 4. | B-B-L-B-B-L-B-B-L | "anapestic" |  |
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| 5. | L-L-L-L-L-L | "spondaic" |  |
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| 6. | B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B | "tribrachic" |  |
Modal notation
Notation uses visual groupings of signs, in the form of ligatures (notes bound together), to reflect the groupings of the sounds:
| 1. | 3li - 2li - 2li | = |  |
| 2. | 2li - 2li - 2li | = |  |
| 3. | 4li - 3li - 3li | = |  |
| 4. | 3li - 3li - 3li | = |  |
| 5. | 3li - 3li | = |  |
| 6. | 4li-3li - 3li | = |  |
All 2-note ligatures (2li) are interpreted brevis-longa. 3-note ligatures (3li) are interpreted according to the context, sometimes brevis-brevis-longa (modes 3 and 4), sometimes longa-longa-longa (mode 5), sometimes brevis-brevis-brevis (mode 6).
"Mensural" notation
Adoption of signs that are not constrained by context within a group, separate symbols which represent their durations by their particular shapes:
| Longa = |  |
| Brevis = |  |
| Semibrevis = |  |
The sounds of the modes remained "modal," i.e. they continued to proceed in grouped patterns, until near the end of the 13th century.
The discrete signs for individual notes ultimately made possible the exploration of rhythmic motion that was not dependent on groupings of note values in sound patterns.