Have you ever heard the simple musical ditty "Do, Re, Me, Fa, So, La, Ti, Do" and wondered what it means? There’s actually a history behind this seemingly random collection of letters: A history that dates back to the eleventh century and would impact music forever.

As small children, we sing very simply - repeating what we’ve heard, or even inventing our own little tunes. As we get older, if our interest in music grows, there are some things to learn. We must get to know the specific notes, memorize their sounds, how they relate to each other, and of course how they’re written on sheet music.

One of the most common and fundamental terms in music is an "octave". An octave is a group of eight notes, each a little higher than the last. The predecessor to the octave was the "hexacord" - a group of six notes. And it is here that the history takes us back to the eleventh century - to an Italian Benedictine monastery. For it was one of those monks, Guido of Arezzo, that developed the simple but crucial musical structure of the hexacord.

Guido was a music theorist, which means he made a deep study of music and was very familiar, among other things, with how notes work together. In the monastery, music was a natural part of his daily life. The monks would sing their chant and hymns as part of group prayer. But Guido was struck by a particular song, "Ut queant laxis", a hymn to St. John the Baptist. It reads as follows:

Ut queant laxis
Resonare fibris
Mira gestorum
Famuli tuorum,
Solve polluti
Labii reatum,
Sancte Iohannes.

In English:

So that your servants may with loosened voices
Resound the wonders of your deeds,
Clean the guilt from our stained lips,
O Saint John.

Guido noticed for the initial six phrases that the first syllable of each was one note higher than the last. So his hexacord went thus: "Ut, Re, Mi, Fa, So, La".

About 500 years later, "Ut" became "Do", and eventually the hexacord became an octave. "Ti," and a second "Do" were added to the original six, making them eight.

This simple "Do, Re, Mi, Fa, So, La, Ti, Do" is actually extremely important for musicians. Known by students as "solfège", it is a critical part in teaching them to recognize - by sound and sight - all possible notes.

Little did those monks know what their lovely, simple hymn would lead to. Without knowing it, the inspired Brother Guido helped pave the way for countless future musicians to understand and write music better than ever before. For generations to follow, the art and language of music would forever be touched by and indebted to a Benedictine monastery and their holy song to St. John the Baptist.