Medieval Music - A Quick Guide
Summary
TLDRThis video from musictheoryacademy.com explores medieval music, spanning 900 years from the fall of the Western Roman Empire to the Renaissance. It highlights monophonic Gregorian chant characteristics, Latin lyrics, and the use of modes before the development of major and minor scales. The script delves into the evolution of polyphonic music through organum, sheet music standardization with neumes, and the introduction of instruments like the medieval flute, lyra, and dulcimer. It also touches on the emergence of secular music, such as the troubadours and the ars nova movement, offering a comprehensive look at the medieval music period's complexity and richness.
Takeaways
- 🕰️ The medieval period of music spans from around 500 to 1400, covering 900 years and extending from the fall of the Western Roman Empire to the beginning of the Renaissance.
- 🎵 Medieval music is characterized by its monophonic nature, with solo performances and a single line of music, as opposed to polyphonic music with multiple lines of melody.
- 🏰 The music of this era is often religious, performed in churches, sung in Latin, and has a Gregorian chant-like quality, indicating its association with the church and liturgy.
- 🎼 Before the development of major and minor scales, medieval music used eight different modes, which can still be heard in some folk music today.
- 🔄 Organum was a key development in medieval music, introducing polyphony by adding a second voice to the existing melody, either in parallel or free organum, and even melismatic organum where one voice sustains a note while the other moves.
- 📜 Neumes were an early form of musical notation used by the Catholic Church to standardize the music sung in churches, evolving to include more rhythmic information and serving as a precursor to modern sheet music.
- 🎷 The medieval period also saw the development and use of various musical instruments, such as the medieval flute, lyra, and dulcimer, contributing to the diversity of the music beyond vocal performances.
- 🎶 Secular music developed alongside religious music, with traveling performers like troubadours and trouveres bringing music to different regions.
- 🎵 Ars Nova, or 'new art,' emerged in the 14th century in France and Italy, introducing more complex rhythms and a greater independence of voices, marking a significant shift in musical style.
- 📚 Understanding medieval music requires looking beyond the basic elements of solo, church-based, modal music to appreciate the full range of developments in polyphony, notation, instruments, and secular music.
- 🚀 The script encourages further exploration of medieval music through resources and recommended listening available on musictheoryacademy.com, highlighting the depth and variety of this musical period.
Q & A
What is the time frame of the medieval period in music history?
-The medieval period in music history runs from around the year 500 to the year 1400, covering approximately 900 years.
What is the characteristic musical style of the medieval period known as?
-The characteristic musical style of the medieval period is known as monophonic, which means there is only one line of music or sound.
What language is typically used in medieval music, and why?
-Medieval music typically uses Latin, as many pieces were part of the sung mass in the Catholic Church.
What is the difference between the modes and the major/minor scales?
-Modes were used in medieval music before the development of major and minor scales. There were eight different modes, and they differ from major/minor scales in their structure and the emotional effect they convey.
What is organum, and how did it contribute to the development of medieval music?
-Organum is a technique where an additional voice or line is added to the existing melody, creating a polyphonic sound. It was a key development in moving from monophonic to polyphonic music during the medieval period.
What are the three main types of organum mentioned in the script?
-The three main types of organum mentioned are parallel organum, free organum, and melismatic organum, each offering different ways of handling the relationship between the two voices.
What role did the Catholic Church play in the standardization of music during the medieval period?
-The Catholic Church introduced neumes, early forms of sheet music, to standardize the music being sung in churches across different regions.
How did the development of neumes contribute to the evolution of modern sheet music?
-Neumes provided an indication of pitch movement and, as they developed, included more information such as rhythm, serving as an early precursor to the staff notation used in modern sheet music.
What instruments were mentioned in the script as being used during the medieval period?
-The medieval flute, lyra, and dulcimer were mentioned as instruments used during the medieval period, contributing to the diversity of the music of that era.
What is the significance of the 'ars nova' or 'new art' movement in the 14th century?
-The 'ars nova' movement marked a significant development in medieval music, characterized by an increase in rhythmic complexity and the independence of voices, representing a shift towards the Renaissance period.
How did secular music develop during the medieval period?
-Secular music developed through traveling performers like troubadours and trouveres, who performed their music outside of religious contexts, contributing to the diversity of the medieval music landscape.
Outlines
🎵 Introduction to Medieval Music
The script introduces the medieval period of music, spanning from 500 to 1400 AD, and highlights its distinctive features. It starts with a monophonic musical example, illustrating the solo performance style common in medieval music. The script explains the use of Latin in church music and the presence of Gregorian chant influences. It also mentions the use of modes instead of major or minor scales, which were developed later. The paragraph sets the stage for exploring the evolution of music during this 900-year period, including the shift from monophonic to polyphonic music through techniques like organum, which involved adding a second voice at a fixed interval, either in parallel or contrary motion, and melismatic organum where one voice sustains a note while the other varies.
📜 Developments in Medieval Music Notation and Instruments
This paragraph delves into the standardization efforts of the Catholic Church to regulate the music sung in churches through the introduction of neumes, an early form of sheet music indicating pitch movement. It discusses the evolution of these neumes into more informative notations, which served as precursors to modern sheet music. The paragraph also covers the development of musical instruments during the medieval period, including the medieval flute, which had a similar feel to the modern recorder, the lyra, one of the first bowed string instruments in Western classical tradition, and the dulcimer. Additionally, it touches upon the emergence of secular music, with traveling performers like troubadours and trouveres, and the 'ars nova' or 'new art' movement of the 14th century, characterized by increased rhythm and independence of voices, which stirred controversy and marked significant changes in medieval music.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Medieval Music
💡Monophonic
💡Gregorian Chant
💡Mode
💡Organum
💡Polyphony
💡Neumes
💡Instruments
💡Trobadours and Trouvères
💡Ars Nova
Highlights
Introduction to the medieval period of music, spanning from around 500 to 1400.
Medieval music is characterized by monophonic performances, featuring a single line of music.
Medieval music often originates from the church and is sung in Latin, resembling Gregorian chant.
Music of this era is based on modes rather than the major and minor scales developed later.
Eight different modes were utilized in medieval music.
The period saw experiments to evolve from monophonic to polyphonic music.
Organum introduced a second voice to create a polyphonic sound.
Three types of organum: parallel, free, and melismatic, each offering different voice interactions.
Development of neumes as early forms of sheet music to standardize church music.
Neumes provided indications of pitch movement and gradually included rhythmic information.
Instruments like the medieval flute, lyra, and dulcimer were part of the medieval music scene.
The emergence of secular music with traveling performers like troubadours and trouvères.
Ars Nova, or 'new art,' marked a significant development in the 14th century with increased rhythm and independence of voices.
Philippe de Vitry's tract on Ars Nova sparked controversy and interest in the new musical style.
Medieval music's evolution included early polyphony, neumatic notation, and a variety of instruments.
The period's music was not limited to church settings, with the development of secular music styles.
Resources and recommended listening for medieval music are available at musictheoryacademy.com.
The journey through music history continues with the Renaissance period.
Transcripts
[Music]
hi everyone ben here from
musictheoryacademy.com
in this series of lessons we're going to
be having a look at the periods of music
and we're going to begin our journey
today by looking at medieval music now
the medieval period
runs from around about the year 500
to the year 1400 so it covers a massive
900 years and it runs right through from
around the time of the fall of the
western roman empire to
right through to the beginning of the
renaissance
so let's jump straight in and let's have
a listen to an example
of medieval music
[Music]
is
[Music]
you can hear from that example a number
of different
key elements that you can pick out
firstly
it's a solo performance there's only one
line
of music we call this monophonic meaning
literally mono
one phonic sound one sound and that's
very typical
of medieval music the second thing you
notice
is that it's very much sounds like it's
in a church
it's from the sung mass the language is
in latin
and it's it's got that sort of feel of a
gregorian chant
so it's another key fingerprint as it
were of the style
that we're listening to you can also
hear
that it's it doesn't sound like it's in
a major or minor scale it's in something
different
it's in what's called a mode and there
were eight different
modes that were used in medieval music
this was before
major and minor scales had been
developed you'll still hear modes
uh played today often in in folk music
but most of the music that you hear
nowadays is in either a major or a minor
scale but back in the medieval times
this was before
those were developed so you've got three
key things that that you can hear from
that piece of music
and for many people that's where their
understanding of medieval music ends
and it's like yes it's it's vocal music
sung in latin inner mode
that's medieval music but actually it's
it's a period that covers 900 years
and there were lots of changes and
developments during that time
so it's good to have a bit more of an
understanding of that period of music
so what were these experiments and
developments that went on during the
time
well one of the key things they tried to
do was to try and extend the music so
instead of it just being
monophonic so one sound they wanted to
try and develop a polyphonic
sound something that had more than one
line
of melody and one of the key ways they
tried to do this was
through something called organum now
organum was the addition of another
line of voice so you had two lines
of voices and there were three main ways
they they experimented with this
the first was this thing called parallel
organum
in parallel organum you've got two
voices at a fixed interval
so here i've got two voices at the
interval of a fifth
um and one voice sings the melody while
the other
stays at that fixed interval and they
move around
[Music]
in a parallel fashion you can see that
that interval
[Music]
of the fifth is is staying the same so
that's
parallel organum or otherwise known as
strict organum
now in free organum the two voices
uh can move in both parallel motion and
contrary motion so parallel motion
we've seen is where they're moving
in the same direction but contrary
motion is where they can move apart
and you can see how you start to get a
little bit more creativity
a bit more variety in free organum
now melismatic organum is a little bit
different
the accompanying part stays on one note
whilst the other part
can move around above it
and you can see how it's starting to
develop
so you can see how composers were
experimenting and trying to move away
from this simple
uh monophonic sound and you had these
early
developments of a polyphonic sound but
what other developments did we have
well we had developments in sheet music
so the catholic church
there was lots of different singing
going on around all the different
churches and they want to stand
wanted to standardize the music that was
being sung
in churches and the way they did this
was they brought in these things called
names and the wayms were like early
forms
of sheet music and they gave an
indication
of uh the which way the pitch was going
the movement of pitch
and throughout the period these names
developed and they had more and more of
information
on them um so they had some indication
of rhythm
in many ways this was the early
forerunner of the sheep music
that we see today there are also
developments in instruments
and we have the medieval flute let's
have a listen to how that sounds
you can hear how in many ways it sounds
like um a contemporary recorder
because it's wooden uh in its feel you
also had the lyra
this is seen as being one of the first
bowed uh string instruments in the
western classical
tradition and then also you have the
dulcimer here's how the dorchama sounds
[Music]
so you can see that the medieval period
was not just vocal music
and there were other instruments as well
during that
time but it was also not just church
music
during that time um some secular music
developed
um you've got the troubadours and the
truvaires who were these
traveling performers um who went round
performing uh their music
you also had this new development called
ars nova or
new art which was developed in 14th
century
uh france and italy um and you've got
this sort of increase of
rhythm you've got increase of
independence of hearts
the name comes from a tract written by
philippe de vitri in around about
13 13 20 and you can just imagine
the controversy at the time over this
over this
new art this uh this new style that was
developing
so we started with these three elements
the the solo sound
the church song mass the mode but we've
seen that
actually there are other fingerprints of
the medieval music style
we've got this early attempts at
polyphony um and the the organum that
comes with that
you've got the sheep music the very
early names that the
catholic church were bringing in to try
and standardize the music being sung
you've got
instruments the flutes the lyra and the
dulcimer
and then also you've got this
development of secular music
um that there was the music was not just
the music that you sung in church but
you've also got
the troubadours and the true bears i
really hope that's given you a good
understanding
of the basics of the medieval period of
music
head over to musictheoryacademy.com and
you'll find
more resources some more detailed
information and some recommended
listening on the period
the next stage on our journey takes us
to the wonders of the renaissance period
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