Long, Short, High, Low

Music before any of it is written down. A sound is long or short, and a row of them is a rhythm you can clap. A beat is steady and you can count it. High and low are drawn up and down, which is the whole reason a stave is tall. And every child already owns a rhythm — their own name has one. No note heads, no stave, no letters: all of this is true before notation exists, so notation arrives later as a way of writing down something already understood.