In review

1. In review • Prehistoric Music: Lasted about 55,000 years. This time period for music ended approx. 1,500 BCE. During this time period “music was created” from sounds in nature and the sounds of man. Some of the first instruments included rocks sticks, the voice, and the bone flute. Prehistoric music was founded in preliterate cultures, before recorded history ( before 500 AD). We can still hear some of the origins of this music from South American Indians and African Natives.

2. In Review • Ancient Music: Lasted from 1500 BCE to 500 AD. Ancient Music refers to the various musical systems that were developed across various geographical regions such as Mesopotamia, Egypt, Persia, India, China, Greece and Rome. Ancient music is characterized by basic audible tones and scales. It most likely was transmitted orally at first onset, and then later through written systems. Pythagoras and Aristoxenus developed systems of theory and written notation to communicate musical ideas. Ancient music was monophonic ( having a single melodic line) and involved Lute, flute, harp or vocals playing the same melody (doubling).

3. Western/ European Art Music Early Period Approx 500AD to 1760AD

4. 1. Medieval Music • Approx. 500 AD to 1400AD

5. Medieval Music • Medieval Music consisted of both secular and non secular themes. It was comprised of two main textures; monophony and polyphony. Secular: Music not subject to or bound by religious rule; Non-secular: Religious music

6. This Time in Music History • During Early Period of music, the church played a main role in the social life, learning and arts of the people in the western hemisphere. The Medieval Music period is the longest and most remote of all of musical history. This time period was also filled with ignorance, illness and death. • Pope Gregory (590-640CE) organized a huge repetoire of chants, developed during the first century of the Christian Church, known as Gregorian Chants/ Plainsong. • http://comp.uark.edu/~rlee/otherchant.html • http://www.christusrex.org/www2/cantgreg/index_eng.html

7. Gregorian Chant(non secular) • Characteristics • Monophonic • Pure shapes of melody • Changed over time (oral traditions and notation methods) • Similar to a folk melody (lullaby) • Learn and follow a Chant • http://www.gregorian-chant.info/

8. Notation • The musical notation of the Early Period did not resemble modern notation. It evoloved from that of the ancient greek style using symbols. The symbols were known as neumes and related to the pitches of a melody only, not the rhythmic elements of the song. Other musical notation, such as rhythm didn't begin until the 12th or 13th centuries. During this period only non-secular music was written and saved, because the church could afford to do so.

9. Polyphony • Appeared approx 1200 AD • Music that consisted of two or more melodic lines that were heard simultaneously • more difficult to compose than the monophonic chant, because a composer had to combine multiple melodic lines in a way that would be pleasing to the listener

10. Troubadors • Troubadours were poet musicians. They did not write religious poems. They wrote romances about knights and ladies. These romances were told in the form of poems set to music. Their songs were very popular because they were about love and heroes and chivalry.  • These musicians would go from town to town, playing love songs. They might also play drums, harps, and bagpipes, which were all popular instruments of the times. 

11. Troubadors Con’t • Troubadours created and memorized their own music. If they heard a good song, they memorized it and performed it. Credit was not given to the composer of a piece they were playing. The church taught that God would be unhappy if composers took credit for their work. The troubadors were an elite group of influencial musicians.

12. Instruments used throughout the Early Period • Bowed Instruments • Plucked Strings • Wind Instruments • Organs • Percussion Instruments • Voice

13. Instrument Interactive • http://www.music.iastate.edu/antiqua/instrumt.html • Early Composers on smartboard cd (opt)

14. Match the Instruments • Bowed Instruments Shawm • Plucked Strings Organetto • Wind Instruments Lute • Organs Hurdy Gurdy • Percussion Instruments Psaltery • Voice Serpent Tabor recorder Tambourine Sacbut

15. Secular Music • Characteristics • monophonic and stylistically more diversified than plain song • stronger, and utilized regular rhythms, and had short rhythmic patterns • It was generally modal but favored major (Ionian) and minor (Aeolian) modes • More difficult to compose than the monophonic chant, because a composer had to combine multiple melodic lines in a way that would be pleasing to the listener. • Mostly non-written orally passed down, and anonymous

16. Things to Think About • 1.  Why don't we know the names of the popular Medieval musicians who played, sang, and wrote songs from town to town?   • 2.  Why do you think music notation began in the Catholic Church rather than with the traveling musicians?   • 3.  Why is it important to write down music? • 4.  Should the rules for writing down music be the same for everyone?

17. Thinking Con’t • 5.  Can you identify instruments of the Medieval period that no longer exist? • 6.  Why do you think some instruments from the Medieval period disappeared? • 7.  What are some instruments we use today that were not known during the Medieval period?   • 8.  Why do you think non-religious music was becoming more and more popular?  • 9.  Why did it take almost a thousand years for music to develop rhythm, harmony, and instruments?   

18. Development of Polyphony • Guillaume de Machaut1300-1377 wrote the Mass of Notre Dame (lehman.edu) • Organun represents the beginnings of harmony and, ultimately, of counterpoint. (voices move in parallel motion above the orignial tune- up a 4th or 5th. • Example played on piano • http://library.thinkquest.org/15413/history/music-history.htm • http://musictechteacher.com/quiz_help_intervals1.htm • Moving into the renaissance • Josquin desprez (lehman.edu) • Giovanni da palestrina (lehman.edu)

19. Motets • a short piece of sacred choral music, typically polyphonic and unaccompanied.

20. Liturgical drama • semi-musical drama in the Middle Ages, involving acting, speaking, singing and instrumental accompaniment in some combination

21. Renaissance1400 to 1600AD • Renaissance means rebirth or rediscovery. This particularly pertains to the Ancient Greek and Roman arts. • Music became an expressive art form, rather than a ordered theory. • Easier travel enabled a further reach of music to other areas. • John Dunstable (naxos.com) • The increasing reliance on the interval of the third as a consonance is one of the most pronounced features of transition into the Renaissance

22. Madrigals • a fixed form, consisting of two or three short stanzas • Imitation: where one melodic line shares, or "imitates," the same musical theme as a previous melodic line became an important polyphonic technique.

23. Modern Pitch Notation • The completion of the staff is usually credited to Guido d’ Arezzo (c. 1000-1050), one of the most important musical theorists of the Middle Ages. • The next step forward concerning rhythm came from the German theorist Franco of Cologne. In his treatise Ars Cantus Mensurabilis ("The Art of Mensurable Music"), written around 1280, he describes a system of notation in which differently shaped notes have entirely different rhythmic values • However it was Philippe de Vitry, that came up with the more modern rhythmic notational system.

24. The transition from Early Music • Baroque