Today, whenwe think of musical performance inWestern art music, it is easy to take

for granted the division of labor between, for example, musician and composer. However,

music has obviously been produced for many thousands of years without there

being a need to compose and write it down before playing it. Most genres of music have

sustained and developed without this split between creator and performer. In genres

where improvisation play an important role the musician sometimes embodies both the

creative act and the interpretative–simultaneously. In musics built on aural traditions

the composed component is integrally bound to the musician. However, as advanced

and standardized technologies for systematic notation of music were developed in Europe

the role of the musician slowly began to evolve into two, often separate parts: one

part primarily responsible for the construction of music (composer), and one part primarily

responsible for the performance of it (musician). There is no doubt that composition

and notation are extraordinarily ecient means to structure, communicate and

preserve musical ideas and it is fair to assume that the development that led to the division

of labor loosely sketched here participated in the advancement ofWestern music

into new aesthetic areas.