What is the history of the music staff?

Question

I want to know the origin of the music staff.

Answer 1

For a good overview see - http://www.bartleby.com/65/mu/musicaln.html

"Western musical notation has been an evolving system dating back at least to Greece and Rome. The Roman writer and statesman Boethius assigned 15 letters to 2 octaves' worth of tones around 500 AD."
http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mmusicnotes.html

This led to the system of "neumes", apparently based on letters of the Greek alphabet, used to record Gregorian chant. These began to be written above and below a line to indicate intervals -- the foundation for the next step in notation, the STAFF, perfected by medieval music theorist Guido of Arezzo. In fact, Guido also invented what became the clef signs as well as the "do re me" scale system (though it was originally "ut, re, mi, fa, sol, la", after the initial syllables of lines in a Latin hymn for the feast day of John the Baptist).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guido_of_Arezzo

The number of lines in the staff varied (in part according to whether one was writing out vocal or instrumental music). The modern system of a universal standard 5-line staff was first adopted in France, and became widely used by the 16th century
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musical_notation#Development_of_music_notation