Chapter 1

Question 1

Where does the earliest music come from?

Answer 1

Eastern Mediterranean, Middle East, ~40,000 years

Question 2

What is the earliest instrument and what age did it come from?

Answer 2

bone flutes, the stone age

Question 3

What is the difference between a harp and a lyre?

Answer 3

lyre strings run parallel to the sound board, harp strings run perpendicular to the sound board.

Question 4

Which civilization had the earliest known musical notation? When and what

Answer 4

Ancient Mesopotamia had named intervals and wrote on clay tablets, 4000 BC

Question 5

What were the most important instruments in Ancient Greek culture?

Answer 5

aulos, lyre, kithara

Question 6

What is an aulos? What was it used for?

Answer 6

• two joined together pipes with a reed

- to worship the god of fertility Dionysus

Question 7

What greek god is music associated with?

Answer 7

Apollo

Question 8

What were the main purposes of music in Ancient Greek culture?

Answer 8

• part of everyone’s education
• worship
• ceremony
• philosophy

Question 9

What are the two principal kinds of writing in music?

Answer 9

• philosophical doctrines

- theory

Question 10

Who started the idea of music theory?

Answer 10

Greeks

Question 11

What is heterophony?

Answer 11

variant of melody

Question 12

What is polyphony?

Answer 12

independent melody

Question 13

What is the origin of the word lyric?

Answer 13

Sung with a lyre

Question 14

What is the idea of ethos in music? Who said it

Answer 14

music can affect one’s character and behaviour, Aristotle

Question 15

Who feared the power of music to corrupt society and sought to restrict it?

Answer 15

Plato

Question 16

What are Pythagorus’s main ideas about music?

Answer 16

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

Question 17

What are the three tetrachords?

Answer 17

diatonic (E,D,CB), chromatic (E, C#, C, B) and enharmonic (E, C, 1/2bC, B)

Question 18

What is the greater perfect system?

Answer 18

two octave row of overlapping scales

Question 19

What is Tonoi?

Answer 19

15 pitches that make up the scale

Question 20

How did pythagorus affect composers?

Answer 20

They wanted to bring their music to harmony by writing perfect intervals

Question 21

Which intervals are perfect/imperfect?

Answer 21

unison (1:1) octave (2:1) fifth (3:2) and fourth (4:3) —– THIRD (81:27)

Question 22

What is a tibia in Ancient Roman culture?

Answer 22

like an aulos (pipe)

Question 23

What were tibias used for in ancient Roman culture?

Answer 23

played for religious rites, military, theatre

Question 24

Who said that beautiful things exist to remind us of divinity?

Answer 24

Plato

Question 25

What are conjunct tetrachords?

Answer 25

they share a tone

Question 26

What are disjunct tetrachords?

Answer 26

They are separated by a whole tone

Question 27

what was the purpose of music in ancient Roman culture?

Answer 27

religious rites, military, theatre

Question 28

What is an epigram?

Answer 28

A witty poem about moderation between extremes

Question 29

Characteristics of the Epitaph of Seikilos?

Answer 29

• inscribed in a tombstone
• Message: life is short, don’t worry, time takes its toll
• Diatonic genus, Phrygian octave species, conjunct melody

Question 30

Characteristics of Euripides’ Orestes: Stasimon Chorus

Answer 30

• written on a scrap of papyrus
• lines of chorus from a play
• chromatic (possibly enharmonic) tetrachords, disjunct melody

Question 31

Aristoxenus’ rhythmic elements:

Answer 31

• musical rhythm closely related to poetic rhythm (long/short syllables)
• the idea of notes organized in scales, possibly intervals

Question 32

How many gods does Christianity have?

Answer 32

one