Tablature
in anatomy, a division or parting of the skull into two tables.
In art, a painting on a wall or ceiling.
In music, a general name for all the signs and characters used in music; those who were well acquainted with these signs were said to sing by tablature.
Also, a peculiar system of notation employed for instruments of the lute class, for viols, and certain wind instruments.
The earliest systems of notation, like the TABLATURE music of Asiatic nations to this day, were different sorts of tablature. That which may be called the modern tablature was invented not earlier than the 16th century. In England tablature was employed for all stringed instruments, the number of lines employed being regulated by the number of strings the instrument possessed. Tablature for wind stave of 6, 7, or 8 lines, according to the number of holes in the instrument, the number of dots signifying the number of holes to be stopped by the fingers. Organ tablature was a system of writing the notes without the stave by means of letters. Thus, the several octaves were called great, little, 1 and 2-line octaves, according to the style of letter employed to indicate them. The name has also been applied to figured bass.