In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, notes were shaped like diamonds and onions. This Antiphonal document has squared notes which is reminiscent of an earlier time. The music staff was invented in Europe in the late medieval era. The words in this antiphonal are based on scripture.

The notation in the USU Antiphonal differs from the common notation of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Selections of minstrel and musician paintings from the era shows that notation was not square shaped. Some of these paintings include Francesco del Liuto, The Prodigal Son (oil, Venice, Museo Correr) Mary Magdalene (chatsworth, Trustees of Chatsworth Settlement), and Paintings of Lady concerts and Transmission of Jouissance vous donneray.^[1] These paintings show that the notes were primarily diamond and/or onion shaped. There is further evidence of these notes in surviving musical artifacts.

There are a few sheets of music that are from the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries that had semi-squared notes. These were largely on paper instead of parchment and in religious books such as missals. However, the lyrics in them have a sharper edged style to the capital letters. The USU Antiphonal Bifolium has rounded letters in both lower and upper case. The shape of the notes and words indicate an earlier time period than previously indicated. The most similar sheet music found like this antiphonal were from the twelfth and thirteenth centuries; however, this one might have been copied in the fifteenth or sixteenth century from an earlier rendition to restore or preserve an antiphon that was badly damaged.

The USU Antiphonal Bifolium would have most likely been placed on a stand surrounded by monks or choirs. This type of use has been documented by an artwork called woodcuts from the early modern era.^[2]

The Latin words from the song indicate that it was scriptural. When compared with the Latin Vulgate Bible, the words matched the Book of Lamentations, chapter two, verses twelve and thirteen, and chapter three, verses one through four. Lamentations emerged as a popular style of music in the early modern era for the Catholic Church. Songs from the Book of Lamenations were sung during Holy Week.^[3]  “...Lamentations were then sung annually by the papal choir until 1587, when Pope Sixtus V-- over the protests of his chapel singers--commissioned Pierluigi Palestrina to recompose Jeremiahs mournful texts.”^[4] This protest showed the need to change music on a notation level.

Reading the USU Antiphonal Bifolium could be challenging to a modern musician. This is because the clefs are different from what a modern musician is used to seeing. The marks at the beginning of each line indicate whether a soprano, alto, tenor or bass sang it. These staff indicators were established in the early modern periods. The diamonds on page one and two indicated the bass clef. The flag shapes on the third and fourth page indicate tenor.^[5] The staff is the same as the staff used today. There appear to be no accidentals.  The placement of letters, words, singer type and disjointed notes on pages three and four indicate that each half of the Bifolium belongs to a different song. Not knowing this can cause a challenge in reading this Antiphonal both verbal and notational.