Music in the Middle AgesMelody vs Polyphony

The Middle Ages

450-1450

Life was tough…20% of women died during childbirth20% of children died during birth or infancyMen and women would marry as young as 12-14 years

old….typically, though, women were 17-18 years old and men were in their late 20s or 30s

People were superstitious…

Different times…Entertainment

Games and sports, hunting, banquets, jousts and tournaments

Feast days were very important

Feast Days in just the month of February:

1st St Brigid and St Ignatius 2nd Candlemas 4th St Gilbert 5th St Agatha 9th Purification of St Mary 11th St Frideswide 14th St Valentine 16th St Juliana 23rd St Milburga 24th St Mathias 28th St Oswald

So what does all this mean for music?The Catholic Church was the center of musical lifeMainly vocal

The Church frowned on instruments because of their earlier role in pagan rites.

“To what purpose, I pray you, is that terrible blowing of bellows, expressing rather the cracks of thunder than the sweetness of a Voyce.” –St. Aethelred

Organs were played on special occaisions…people sometimes complained that the noise was a distraction to worshipers

Gregorian Chant!The official music of the Roman Catholic Church for over

1,000 yearsSingle line of music without accompaniment Represents the voice of the Church, rather than any

single individualFlexible rhythm with little sense of beat

3 kinds of Gregorian chantSyllabic

One syllable for every noteMary Had a Little Lamb

MelismaticFew syllables over many notesAngels We Have Heard on High “Gloria”

NeumaticIn between: one syllable over a few notesAmazing Grace

Pope Gregory IAKA: St. Gregory the

GreatReorganized the Catholic

liturgyAlthough Gregorian chant

gets its name from this pope, he is not the sole creator of Gregorian chant

How did they learn music?In the early middle ages, music was all passed on by oral

tradition.Write down what I say…

Is this the most accurate way of doing things?

Guido D’ArezzoMonk990-1050 A.D.Invented the concept of

music notation similar to how it is done today

Four line staff and clefs

Guidonian HandEach hand joint

represented a noteTeachers could point to a

joint in order to teach monks new chant music

Guido d’Arezzo most likely did not create this method, but it was named after him

Let’s try it ourselves…

Well that works, but let’s think of something better.

Imagine, for a moment, that we never had written music before. How would you create it?

Guido came up with the basic music notation system

Ut, Re, Mi, Fa, So, La

Does that look familiar?

Ut Queant Laxis

Hymn to St. John

the Baptist

Here’s an example:Write in the syllables

Monophony

What does all of this chant have in common?

Let’s have a brave volunteer…

Congratulations!You’ve just sung monophony!

Monophony=Single line of music.Any voice singing or any instrument playing by itself is

considered monophonic musicHowever: more than one voice or instrument can perform in

unison and still be considered monophonic (Gregorian Chant)

Monophony was the main form of music in the early part of the middle ages

My favorite piece of monophonic music: