ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Musica ficta

Okay kiddo, let me explain musica ficta to you like you're five years old.

You know how when you sing along to your favorite song, sometimes the notes don't sound right? That's because in music, there are different rules for which notes should be used together, and sometimes singers or musicians need to change the notes to make them sound better.

This changing of notes is called musica ficta. It's when a musician changes a note, either by raising it up or lowering it down, to make the music sound better.

Think of it like coloring a picture - sometimes you need to color outside the lines a bit to make the picture look nicer. Musica ficta is like coloring outside the lines of the music to make it sound better.

Sometimes the notes that need to be changed aren't even written down on the music, so the musician needs to use their ear and their knowledge of music to decide which notes to change.

So, musica ficta is like a secret code that musicians use to make their music sound better. It's kind of like magic!