ANCIENT MUSIC

A FEW PREHISTORIC POINTS…

• Early music is thought to mimic naturally occurring sounds and rhythms.• Development of “motherese”… a type of

communication between mothers and infants.• These gestures and sounds are similar across many

cultures.• Human voice is the “first” instrument.• Singing, humming, clicking, whistling, yawning

• “Rhythm” instruments came next…• Clapping hands, hitting stones together, etc.

• “Wind” instruments are invented once stone tools start being used amongst humans.

L I K E LY A L E G BO N E F R O M A B E A R

DIVJE BABE FLUTE … GERMANY

M A D E F R O M T H E BO N E S O F A R E D - C R O W N E D C RA N E

ANCIENT CHINESE GUDI (BONE FLUTES)

MOVING RIGHT ALONG…

• Artifacts found in an Ancient Greek burial site depict a double-flute and a lyre.• Possibly religious symbols to ward off evil spirits or

depicted figures from Greek mythology.

THE LYRES OF UR

• Considered to be the oldest surviving stringed instruments.• Discovered in the Royal Cemetery of Ur, located

in modern-day Iraq.• Three separate instruments.

DA M AG E D D U R I N G 2 N D I RAQ WA R

THE GOLDEN BULL’S LYRE

B E LO N G S T O U N I V. O F P E N N S Y LVA N I A

BOAT-SHAPED LYRE

B E LO N G S T O T H E B R I T I S H M U SE U M

QUEEN’S LYRE

INSTRUMENTS OF ANCIENT GREECE

• LYRE• Strummed or plucked string instrument.• 7 strings tuned to the notes of the scale.• Used to accompany others or oneself in song.

• KITHARA• Strummed instrument• Different from lyre… it has a sounding-box to help

resonance.• Fully-adjustable strings could tune to any note or scale.

• AULOS• Double pipes, not joined• Low, clarinet-like sound

Aulos & Lyre

INSTRUMENTS OF ANCIENT GREECE

• PAN PIPES (Syrinx)• A series of pipes gradually increasing in length.• Formed by cutting reeds to the correct pitch.• Played by blowing across the top of the pipes.

• HYDRAULIS• Grandfather of the modern pipe organ.• Used water to provide air pressure in a wind-chest.• (Video)

• CONCH & SALPINX• First “brass” instruments.

Ensemble Video

KITHARA

AULOS

AULOS

PAN PIPES

HYDRAULIS & SALPINX

CONCH SHELL

B R O N Z E & S I LV E R

KING TUT’S TRUMPETS

DETAIL OF KING TUT’S TRUMPETS

J A M E S TA P P E R N … A P R I L 1 6 , 1 9 3 9 … C A I R O M U S E U M

RECORDING KING TUT’S TRUMPETS

“EARLY” MUSIC

• Medieval Era … 500-1400 CE• Similar instruments from “ancient” period – but

with improvements.• System of notation is developed around 1000 CE• Guido D’Arezzo & “Guidonian Hand”

• Religious music takes center stage.• Era of Gregorian Chant and Madrigals

Hildegard von Bingen Chant

W I T H B E TT E R T E C H N O LO GY C A M E D I F F E R E N T S T Y L E S …

LUTES, LUTES & MORE LUTES!

( M O D E R N R E P L I C A )

ZITHER

O R … “H U R DY G U R DY”

MECHANICAL VIOLIN

INSIDE A “HURDY GURDY”

FAT H E R O F M O D E R N N O TAT I O N

GUIDO D’AREZZO

N O … “ T H E S O U N D O F M U S I C ” D I D N ’ T C R E AT E I T.

WHERE “DO-RE-MI” CAME FROM…

GUIDONIAN HAND

A LITTLE BETTER VERSION…

GOLIARDS

• Goliards are roaming poet-musician priests.• Roamed the countryside singing and dancing.• Often poked fun at church traditions…• "Priests and clerks dance in the choir dressed as women.

They eat black pudding at the altar itself, while the celebrant is saying Mass. They play dice on the altar. They incense with stinking smoke from the soles of old shoes. They run and leap throughout the church, without shame. Finally they drive about the town in shabby carriages and carts, and rouse the laughter of their fellows and the bystanders in infamous performances, with indecent gestures and with scurrilous and unchaste words."

TROUBADOURS

• Tradition began in the south of France and spread to Italy, Spain and Germany.• Traveling poet-musicians sang about chivalry &

love.• More than 450 known troubadours worked from

1170-1213 CE• Gave rise to the royal position of Minstrel who

was ordered to provide all kinds of entertainment for the palace.• Not just men… there were women troubadours

called “trobairitz.”Troubadour Love Song (Spanish)

The Frog Galliard

ORNATE DECORATION ON A TROUBADOUR SONG

A TROUPE OF TROUBADOURS

MINSTRELSY

M I N S T R E L “D O C U- C O M E DY”

MINSTREL PERFORMING AT A ROYAL DINNER

THE RENAISSANCE1400 - 1600

MOVING RIGHT ALONG…

• Music heavily influenced by the times…• Focus on “humanistic” thought• Recovery of Greek & Latin literature• Trading & Commerce• Growth of “middle class”• Faster technological changes• Changes in the church

• Printing makes distribution of music easier.• Rise of the “virtuoso” musician.

Music becomes a way to express personal ideas, beliefs, etc.

G E TT I N G C LO S E R T O W H AT W E SE E T O DAY …

RENAISSANCE NOTATION

RENAISSANCE RECORDERS

WHAT KIND OF MUSIC?

• Religious-based• Mass (literally singing EVERY word of the R-C mass)• Cantata/Oratorio (based on Bible stories, etc.)• Laude (praise song)

• Secular (or Not-Religious)• Madrigals (poems set to music)• Frottola/Chanson/Lied/Villancio

• Instrumental• Prelude• Tocatta• Pavane• Allemande

SOME LIGHT LISTENING…

• O Magnum Mysterium (Motet)• Ave Verum Corpus (Motet)• Chanson • Matona Mia Cara (Madrigal)