Written Music
For a very long time music was not written down. It was sung or played from memory. As it was passed on from person to person, many changes crept into the tunes. A way of writing music down was needed so that it would be sung or played exactly as it had been
composed. The name for written music that man developed is notation.
The system of musical notation generally used today is the result of centuries of development- from about the end of the ninth century to the early 1700’s. This development began in the cathedrals in monasteries of the Roman Catholic Church.
Since many of the Church’s services were sung, they were sung from memory. Towards the end of the ninth century dots and dashes and squiggles were written over the words in the church books. These signs, called neumes, showed the direction in which the melody should go. But they were still very vague.
About 900 A.D. the music was made a little easier to read.
The neumes were written at certain distances above or below the horizontal red line, representing the note F, to show how high or low...
After a war that claimed the lives of more men than that of all other wars combined, much of the country was left in ruins, literally and figuratively. Dozens of towns in the South had been burned to the ground. Meanwhile, the relations between the North and South had crumbled to pieces. Something needed to be done so that the country could once again be the United States of America, not the Divided States of America. The years from 1865 to 1877 were a time of rebuilding – the broken communities and the broken relations. This time period was known as Reconstruction. Reconstruction was a failure on the basis that the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments that were passed should have given protection and freedom to the African American people, instead, it actually hurt them because the laws were not enforced, and eventually lead to the organization of white supremacy terrorist groups.
“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...
were merely inspired by the earlier music and used the idea to write their own compositions. One
“Follow me, modern musicians, and attribute it to your arts, unknown to antiquity: in these last centuries, Nature, always prodigal of herself, has at last brought forth, after an incubation of twice a thousand years, you, the first true offprints of the Universal Whole. By your harmonizing of various voices, and through your ears, she has whispered of herself, as she i...
Classical music in France started in the medieval times (10th century) and continues to develop now. The types of classical music in France can be broken into six different eras: Middle Ages, Renaissance, baroque, opera, romantic era, and the 20th century. Classical music is associated with secular music, meaning non-religious music. It covers a broad range dating from the 10th century to the present. The major genres are all part of the classical music, whether it be sacred, secular, vocal, or instrumental. As you look into the classical music of France you see that there are different styles within each era. This type of music would start out as one thing, then progress throughout the centuries. Many composers would experiment with different styles to create a separate and unique sound that would be recognized as French music.
Lewis, H. W. (1986). The Accident at the Chernobyl' Nuclear Power Plant and Its Consequences. Environment, 28(9), 25.
Very few Gregorian chant scores exist today, but it can be seen that there are not as many differences between modern and ancient notation as one would think. Chants were written in neumes which are symbols used to express notation; these were usually sung on one syllable. Many of the neumes that have been preserved and documented are very similar to modern ...
Humans from the coast of West Africa arrived to the New World as slaves. Stripped of everything familiar, they brought with them their traditional ways of using music to record historic events, expressions, and to accompany rituals. While toiling in the tobacco fields of Virginia, slaves were not permitted to speak to each other. So, they resorted to their African tradition. They sang!
Music is an art that combines vocal and instrumental sounds to produce something that gives different emotions to the listeners. Music can make a person sad, happy and romantic at the same time. Playing an instrument is also a music, not only singing a song. I had this misunderstanding that music has the song and the musical instrument included in it. But I realized that musical instruments have more importance and beauty than a song including in it.
The evolution of music, from the single note plainchants of the Middle Ages to the complex multiple instrumental symphonies of the Classical Era, was a long process. Each age built on the advances of the previous age, even as some parts were rejected by the following age. In the end the advancements and changes to the ways and means to combine rhythm, melody and harmony makes for a rich music heritage and a foundation for future musicians to build on.
Music has shaped the lives of people throughout history. Even in its earliest forms, music has included use of instruments. One of the oldest musical instruments known is a variation of the flute; the original flute is thought to date back nearly 67,000 years ago. Tonight we are going to move throughout the eras with a history of instrumental music. This concert will begin with the Renaissance Era and continue through time until we have reached modern instrumental music.
music began to be notated in different parts of Europe. Through this, he makes it clear how
To fully understand any musical style, one must be able to analyze the various elements of music as they exist in that particular style. In this first musical close-up, we shall briefly describe these elements of music. In subsequent musical close-ups, we shall examine one or another of these elements in greater detail as it pertains to a given style or topic.
Today, around the world, music creates an impact on our culture and history. Specifically, in the Middle Ages, music was used in such a way, that society grew around it. Many things have changed about this subject, including instruments, vocals, and style, but the impact that still reaches our society today remains the same.