Music Ages Lesson

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Music of the Middle Ages is also known as Medieval music, and was written between 450 and 1450. Most medieval music was vocal, although instruments were used.

text annotation indicator Some of these instruments still exist today, but in different forms. The flute was once made of wood rather than silver or other metal. The recorder has more or less retained its past form. One of the flute's predecessors, the pan flute, was popular in medieval times. This instrument's pipes were made of wood, and were graduated in length to produce different pitches. Medieval music uses many plucked string instruments like the lute and psaltery. Early versions of the organ, violin, and trombone (called the sackbut) existed.

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The church didn't particularly like instruments because of their earlier role in pagan worship; however, the organ and bells became common in churches after about the year 1000.

Gregorian Chants

Mages Sheet music Image Gregorian Chant was the official music of the Roman Catholic Church for over 1000 years and was plainchant, a form of monophonic liturgical music within Western Christianity that accompanied the text annotation indicator celebration of Mass and other ritual services. It is named after Pope Gregory I, Bishop of Rome from 590 to 604, who is traditionally credited for having ordered the simplification and cataloging of music assigned to specific celebrations in the church calendar. The resulting body of music is the first to be notated in a system ancestral to modern musical notation.

Gregorian Chant conveys a calm, otherworldly quality. It represents the voice of the church rather than any single individual. Gregorian chant has been subjected to many gradual changes and some reforms over the years.

Be sure to watch the video on Gregorian Chants below before moving on in the module.

Learn more about the Mass below. Expand each section of the Mass by using the > to display information.

Troubadours Image Secular music of the Middle Ages was music that was outside of the church. It included love songs, political satire, dances, and dramatic works. Drums, harps, recorders, and bagpipes were the instruments used in secular music because they were easy for the traveling musicians (minstrels) to tote about. Instruments were taught through oral tradition and provided great dancing music and accompanied the stanzas well.

For many centuries, western music was basically monophonic, having a single melodic line. Sometime between 700 - 900 polyphony began to take root. Monks began to add a second melodic line to Gregorian Chant and duplicated the melody at a different pitch level. This was called organum.

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From organum sprang polyphony as the added melodic line became more independent. It became a melodic line of its own. After 1150, Paris, which was the intellectual and cultural center of Europe, became the center of polyphonic music. The Notre Dame Cathedral had two successive choirmasters, Leonin and Perotin, and they became the first notable composers known by name. They established a style and school of music known as the School of Notre Dame.

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