music medieval period gr9 (1st quarter) Flashcards
- 400 to 1400 CE
- Also called the Middle Ages
- Most music of the Dark Ages was based upon religious subject
Medieval Period
Kinds of Music created during the Middle Ages:
- Music for Knights
- Music for Nobles in the castles
- Chants for the priests (Christian services in Cathedrals and Monasteries)
o Only songs in churches were preserved. – because of educated people of the church.
- Official music of the Roman Catholic Church.
- Credited after Pope Gregory I
- Also known as plainsong or plainchant
- No instrumental accompaniment
- Passed along first as Oral Tradition, then notated through Neume/s.
Gregorian Chant
o Uses 4 lines for the staff
o Uses either a C clef or F clef.
Neume
[1 note = 1 syllable]
Syllabic
[group of neumes = 1 syllable]
Neumatic
[many notes = syllable]
Melismatic
[1 note = many syllables]
Psalmodic
- 7 tones scale used both in sacred and secular music
Church Modes
2 Modes:
(Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, Mixolydian)
- Authentic
2 Modes:
(Hypodorian, Hypophrygian, Hypolydian, Hypomixolydian)
- Plagal
- At first, music was ______________
Ex. Cantus Firmus – “Fixed Song” - Then had more parts (usually parallel singing in ____, _____, or _______.)
- monophonic
- 4ths,5ths, or Octaves
o First to write polyphonic setting of mass ordinary
o Notable Technique: Ars Nova
Guilliame de Machaut (ca.1300-1377)
isorhythm or repeated pattern thru one or more voices
Ars Nova
o By Pérotin and Léonin
o An early form of polyphony, developed in the church.
o Gregorian Chant + One or More musical lines above.
Ex. Pérotin’s Viderunt Omnes
Organum
o Most important form of Early Polyphonic Music
o Adding more than one (3 or more) voices above the plainchant.
o Composed both for secular and sacred music.
Motet
- The central and leading worship service of the Roman Catholics
Mass
2 Parts:
– section of mass sung with varied text with each feast day.
Proper of the Mass
2 Parts:
unvarying/consistent text sung almost every day.
Ordinary of the Mass
5 Parts of the Ordinary: (KGCSA)
- Kyrie
- Gloria
- Credo
- Sanctus
- Agnus Dei
***Best Sample: Kyrie by Machaut
Instrumental Music
- The 14th century seen growth of importance for instrumental music.
- Hardly written, rather ________
- Became integral in court life – as accompaniment to major festivities
improvised
o First composer-poets from southern France, northern Spain and Italy.
o From trobar meaning to compose, discuss, or find.
o They travel town to town performing chivalry and courtly romantic music.
Troubadours
o Composer-performers that carried on the music traditions of troubadours.
o Also known as minnesingers in Germany.
o Songs are about: love, crusade, dance, and spinning songs.
Trouvères
– acrobat performers and considered under the lowest social level
Minstrels/Jongleurs
- French trouvère, also known as Adam le Bossu (or Adam the Hunchback)
- Accomplished composer of rondeaux, chansons, motets, and jeux partis.
Adam de la Halle (ca.1245-1288)
- 1280s, Most Famous Work: ______________
Le Jeu de Robin et de Marion
long metal instruments usually used for fanfares.
Trumpet
trombone ancestor
Sackbut
Reed instrument, looks like an Oboe
Shawm
goat or sheep skin with reeds
Bagpipe
pair of drum instruments
Nakers
small drum
Tabor
Bas (soft) Musical Instruments
(first 3)
- Flute
- Recorder
- Harp
like a violin ancestor
Fiddle
works like a guitar but pear shaped and bent neck
Lute
only instrument allowed by the church
Positive Organ
