The History of Western Music Music has been around since the dawn of time, ever since man first inhabited this planet we have learned to communicate in ways other then conventional speaking. Different Cultures all have there own specific way of communicating through music. Music is basically broken into two specific groups Eastern Music and Western Music. Eastern music is mainly derived from the orient and India. While, Western music first emerged from Europe. Western music has developed in many ways since the middle ages through its form, sound, and message. The Middle Ages In 500 A.D., western civilization began to emerge from the period known as "The Dark Ages," a time in which many invading forces ruled Europe and brought an end to the Roman Empire. For the next hundred year, the newly emerging Christian Church would soon govern Europe, administering justice, initiating the Crusades against the East, creating Universities, and for the most part dictating the destiny of music, art and literature. Pope Gregory I is believed to have collected the music known as Gregorian Chant, which was the approved music of the Church. Later, Notre Dame in Paris was accredited, with the creation of a new kind of music called organum. Which was created by much more melodic phrases then Gregorian Chant, organum was also the first type of music too utilize fourth and fifth intervals, which would become one of the building blocks of modern musical theory. Music in the church had not changed much during this time as said by Charles Burney in A General History of Music Volume I, “Music in the church, however, appears to have undergone no other change at this time than in being applied in some parts of the service…”(57). A type popular music began to erupt and was sung all over Europe by the troubadours and trouvères of France. The troubadours and trouvères played mainly lutes (a primitive guitar) and sung songs, which everyday people could appreciate and identify with. And it was during the middle Ages that western culture saw the arrival of the first great name in music, Guillaume de Machaut. De Machaut polyphonic style did not catch with many during the middle ages, but would later influence a flood of composers during the Renaissance. The Renaissance The Renaissance began in the year 1420 and ended in the year 1600. The Renaissance meaning rebirth was a time of... ... middle of paper ... ...bert Palmer in Rock & Roll an unruly history “Of necessity, then, rock and roll’s original audience was in many respects a secret audience teenagers gathering after school, cruising in their cars, or lying awake under their bedclothes deep in the night, their ears pressed to tiny little transistor radios.”(95). Western Music has developed in many ways since the middle ages through its form, sound, and message. Throughout these different periods in western music one thing has remained constant, the true essence of music, a way to communicate with someone on a much more divine level than be by rudimentary conversation. Though Ludwig Van Beethoven and Paul McCartney may seem completely opposite they have one in common through their music they changed the world’s perception of its self Works Cited Burney, Charles. A General History Of Music. New York: Dover Publications, 1957. Burney, Charles. A General History Of Music 2. New York: Dover Publications, 1957. Einstein, Alfred. A Short History Of Music. New York: Alfred A Knopf, 1969. Palmer, Robert. Rock & Roll an unruly history. New York: Harmony Books, 1995. Prendergast, Mark. The Ambient Century. New York: Bloomsbury, 2000
Music has evolved too many different forms that we recognize today. We trace this development throughout time. Beginning in the middle ages, we have seen advancement from the Gregorian chant all the way to the Jazz of the 20th century. The current events, politics, religion, technology and composers can shape musical eras during time. Here I will look at the middle ages, renaissance, baroque, classical, romantic and twentieth century periods. I hope that a better understanding can be reached to why, when, where and who are the reasons for musical evolution.
The Renaissance was a time of cultural rebirth, and academic learning in Europe. A time when our understanding of the Universe, and ourselves changed and art became less religious, and more personal. The Renaissance was a great and creative time in human history that had a huge impact on everyone’s lives. According to the text it states that in 1300s important changes began to happen. Improved farming methods helped peasants become more self-sufficient. More and more serfs gained their freedom and no longer depended on lords. (Background Essay).
During the 1960s, and especially during the years following the British invasion, television played a key role in igniting the popularity of several American bands. “American response” bands such as Paul Revere and the Raiders and the Monkees gained considerable success due to the air time they received on TV. It was at this time that three main shows were providing coverage on new musical acts—both British and American alike—and these shows were being targeted towards a teenage demographic. CBS’s Where the Action Is, ABC’s Shindig, and NBC’s Hullabaloo were all major factors in the blossoming careers of the American response bands. This occurrence can also be attributed to British invasion bands such as the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, who ...
“For over one thousand years the official music of the Roman Catholic church had been Gregorian Chant, which consists of melody set to sacred Latin texts and sung without accompaniment” (Kamien 67). The credit for developing Gregorian chant music, also known as plain...
The Renaissance was a period of European history, considered by modern scholars as that between 1300 and 1600. Many dramatic changes happened during the Renaissance. The Renaissance was a period of new inventions and beliefs.
The medieval period, believe it or not, was the middle age of music, not the beginning. It began in year 500 and ended in the 1450s. Music from this period is vastly different then the music someone would listen to today; it is religious, sacred, and mostly monophonic. The instruments used during this period included a wooden flute, lute, mandore, gittern, and psaltery (instruments you’ve probably never heard of). Usually, these instruments later evolved into the instruments people use today. When it came to music theory, the medieval period was the foundation for the theory. All the fundamentals and special markings started in this age. Few composer names could be gathered up during this period because of the lack of evidence that a composer left behind when he/she died. Some noteworthy names, however, are Abbess Hildegard von Bingen, Perotin Magnus, and Guillaume de Machaut.
Music has been around for thousands of years throughout the world dating all the way back to prehistoric times proven by the digging up of a 9,000-year-old flute that had seven holes drilled into it to create a musical scale in China ("Prehistoric flute music:," 2000). Music went through numerous stages before becoming what we know music as today. The earliest periods of music were the Medieval, Renaissance, and Baroque Periods which took place from the years 500-1760. The next cluster of periods were the Classical, Romantic, and Modern Periods which ended in 1930 to bring us to the most recent periods: Twentieth Century Period and the ongoing Contemporary and Twenty First Century Periods.
Taking a look back into our history, it is very hard to graze over the fact that music has reigned as one of the most influential components of artistic expression in our time. It has been a part of numerous peoples' lives across the globe since the beginning of time. Music has been able to not only define the people that craft it, but encompass and define a whole time period and culture in its own, leaving a very bold mark upon history. Two pieces of music that have played integral roles during their time are “In Paradisum” (by an anonymous individual) during the middle ages (600-1450), and “Same Love,” by Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, featuring Mary Lambert during the 21st century (2001-2100, specifically released in 2012). These musical pieces, although from two very different spectrums in history, share a few notable similarities, as well as some remarkable differences that embody the ever so changing sound of art in time.
Music is something that everybody has a connection to. Sometimes it evokes memories of a childhood long ago or someone in your life that connected with you in your most vulnerable moment. However, music has an origin. It has been around since the time man began to express himself. It is the most organic of all art forms, and it continues to manifest itself in many different forms that seem to fit in all aspects of our lives, no matter how complicated or how trivial it may seem. At the core, music represents all that is good or bad in the world. It’s a way people from all over this globe can relate to one another without ever speaking a chosen language.
The first period of music is also the earliest and most distant: the medieval period, which lasted from 0-1400 A.D. During this time, music was meant only for the church in worship of God. Pope Saint Gregory was credited with creating the Gregorian Chant, which was “monophonic, or unison, liturgical music of the Roman Catholic Church, used to accompany the text of the mass and the...
Most of the early music that we have today still in print is primarily sacred music. This music, for the most part, is in the form of sections of the Mass, such as the Gloria, Kyrie and Agnus Dei. Most people of the Middle Ages were poor peasants who worked all day for meager wages and had no idle time lounging the way the upper classes did. Therefore, there are few extant secular compositions of music from this era. The rise of a new middle class, however, gave financial freedom for some people to spend time and money on entertainment in the form of music and dance. Thus, the rise of the middle classes also gave way to the rise in composition and performance of secular music, which became the music of choice for composers of that day.
If you ask the average young adult what comes to mind when they hear the term “music” they are likely to respond with a fresh singer, band, or genre of “pop” music. Often times society places their opinion of classical music and popular music on completely different wavelengths of importance in the world. The modern perception of classical vs. popular music has led to a heavily decreasing audience for classical groups and performances, a desire for repetitive and simple melodies, and a negative stigma against classical music’s importance.
The first period discussed in class was the Medieval and Renaissance period. The middle ages unknowingly prepared the world for the great advances in scientific ideas along with the innovational ideas related to music that would occur in the Renaissance Period. The most well known composers of this medieval era consisted of Hildegard and Machaut. Both of these musical artists used small conjunct melodies with nonmetric or triple meters. However, the static harmony greatly contributed to the chants that made medieval period truly memorable.
People have often wondered if music has always been around. Well, to answer that question I did some research to find out where our music originated. Our first reliable music records came from the Greeks and the Romans. Americans musical history is very short when compared to Japan, India, Africa, and China. We don't know much about our history until about 590-604 A.D. when people began to write music down, the first music that was written down was songs sung in churches.
The first music era know to man was the "Prehistoric Music." This was quite possibly influenced by birds singing and other animal sounds as they were communicating with each other. It was developed with the backdrop of natural sounds. Some evolutionary biologists have theorized that the ability to recognize sounds not created by humans as "musical" provides a selective advantage.