Chapter 1 Flashcards
Where does the earliest music come from?
Eastern Mediterranean, Middle East, ~40,000 years
What is the earliest instrument and what age did it come from?
bone flutes, the stone age
What is the difference between a harp and a lyre?
lyre strings run parallel to the sound board, harp strings run perpendicular to the sound board.
Which civilization had the earliest known musical notation? When and what
Ancient Mesopotamia had named intervals and wrote on clay tablets, 4000 BC
What were the most important instruments in Ancient Greek culture?
aulos, lyre, kithara
What is an aulos? What was it used for?
- two joined together pipes with a reed
- to worship the god of fertility Dionysus
What greek god is music associated with?
Apollo
What were the main purposes of music in Ancient Greek culture?
- part of everyone’s education
- worship
- ceremony
- philosophy
What are the two principal kinds of writing in music?
- philosophical doctrines
- theory
Who started the idea of music theory?
Greeks
What is heterophony?
variant of melody
What is polyphony?
independent melody
What is the origin of the word lyric?
Sung with a lyre
What is the idea of ethos in music? Who said it
music can affect one’s character and behaviour, Aristotle
Who feared the power of music to corrupt society and sought to restrict it?
Plato
What are Pythagorus’s main ideas about music?
based on ratios and perfect ratios make intervals that can be played (divide a string in that ratio to get the note) on the monochord
What are the three tetrachords?
diatonic (E,D,CB), chromatic (E, C#, C, B) and enharmonic (E, C, 1/2bC, B)
What is the greater perfect system?
two octave row of overlapping scales
What is Tonoi?
15 pitches that make up the scale
How did pythagorus affect composers?
They wanted to bring their music to harmony by writing perfect intervals
Which intervals are perfect/imperfect?
unison (1:1) octave (2:1) fifth (3:2) and fourth (4:3) —– THIRD (81:27)
What is a tibia in Ancient Roman culture?
like an aulos (pipe)
What were tibias used for in ancient Roman culture?
played for religious rites, military, theatre
Who said that beautiful things exist to remind us of divinity?
Plato
What are conjunct tetrachords?
they share a tone
What are disjunct tetrachords?
They are separated by a whole tone
what was the purpose of music in ancient Roman culture?
religious rites, military, theatre
What is an epigram?
A witty poem about moderation between extremes
Characteristics of the Epitaph of Seikilos?
- inscribed in a tombstone
- Message: life is short, don’t worry, time takes its toll
- Diatonic genus, Phrygian octave species, conjunct melody
Characteristics of Euripides’ Orestes: Stasimon Chorus
- written on a scrap of papyrus
- lines of chorus from a play
- chromatic (possibly enharmonic) tetrachords, disjunct melody
Aristoxenus’ rhythmic elements:
- musical rhythm closely related to poetic rhythm (long/short syllables)
- the idea of notes organized in scales, possibly intervals
How many gods does Christianity have?
one
