As many of you know from seeing my work I am fascinated by the connections between visual and auditory experience, most specifically on the interchange between them, or the lack thereof.
My friend who specializes in Greek culture as perceived in 18th-century England (how's that for specificity!) tells me that the Greek language was at its most highly inflected with specific endings when it was newborn. With usage it eroded, becoming gradually less refined.
Imagine if music notation had had a similar history, moving from visualizations of vibrations to the rather coarse system we use today.