Overview of

Music History
 Middle Ages / Medieval
450 – 1450
Sacred Music
 Mostly vocal music until 1100
 After 1100, the church allowed instruments to be played.
 The organ was the most popular then.
 Most notated music was sacred
 Why? The church had control over learning.
 Most composers were anonymous because they were
taught that it was wrong to take credit and brag about
their works. They were taught that God would be
unhappy with them.
 Middle Ages / Medieval
450 – 1450
 Secular music – non-religious
 Troubadours traveled the country, singing
their love songs.
 They used drums, bagpipes, harps, and
recorders.
 Why do you think they didn’t notate their
music?
 Middle Ages / Medieval
 Gregorian Chant: The earliest music of the
Middle Ages was sung slowly and without
rhythm or harmony. Everyone sang the
same thing.
 These tunes are also called Gregorian
Chant, which were named after Pope
Gregory I.
 Middle Ages / Medieval
 Polyphony: Later on other musical lines
were added, creating harmony. This is
also called polyphonic music.
 This is music for more than one voice and
it appeared during the later Medieval
period. This marked the beginning of
harmony.
 Ballad
 Ballads were sung outside of churches
and told stories.
 Topics included love, war, and heroes.
 Every other line rhymes within a verse–
ABAB
 Verse One: Verse Two:
 ….. A ….C
 ….. B ….D
 …. A ….C
 …. B ….D
 Medieval Listening Example
 “Graduale”
 By – Anonymous

 Include title, composer, and three musical

ideas using sentences in your journal. Don’t
forget your introduction and conclusion.
 Just fyi – the gradual is a responsorial chant
and is the only type, other than the Alleluia,
that is sung without an any action, such as a
processional. It comes in between readings.
 “Graduale”
 “Graduale” is a peaceful song. It was a
Gregorian Chant. It doesn’t have any
instruments playing with it. This song is
religious. The color of this song is orange,
because it is mellow.
 Renaissance
 Renaissance means “rebirth”- in this case,
it was a rebirth of Greek and Roman
culture.
 It lasted from 1450-1600.
 The middle and upper classes hired
people to educate their children.
 The printing press was invented and
popularized the music of great composers.
 Renaissance Music
 Most Renaissance music is polyphonic –
two or more voices being heard with
different rhythms.
 Near the end of the Renaissance, chordal
music appeared. The voices moved
together in chords.
 Vocal A Capella Music
 Madrigals - These song forms were performed in
groups of four, five, or six singers. A madrigal is
secular music and were usually love songs.
 Motets - a polyphonic work with four or five voice
parts singing one religious Latin text.
 Mass - follows the religious service of the
Catholic Church and is sung in a very specific
order: Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus,
Benedictus, and Agnus Dei. It is performed in
Latin.
 Instrumental Music
 There was a growth in instrumental music,
especially the lute and keyboard. The
most popular instrument of the
Renaissance was the lute.
 Most instrumental music was written for
singing and dancing.
 Palestrina’s music
shows pitch and
rhythm.
 He was Italian and
wrote mostly religious
works.
 He is considered one
of the great masters
of Renaissance
music.
 He wrote motets,
madrigals, and
masses.
Renaissance Listening Example
 “Kyrie”
 By Palestrina
 Baroque Activitation
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CTVraV
gzC9U
 Organ – Bach
 Baroque
 1600-1750
 Baroque refers to highly decorated music
and art.
 Unity – repeating rhythms and melodic
patterns
 Sudden dynamic and tempo changes
 Music was ornamented and improvised.
 Baroque Music
 Orchestras begin to form
 Opera develops
 Was written for and heard only by kings
and nobility and the Church
 Venice, Italy was the center of Baroque
music
 Harpsichord was more popular than the
piano.
 Fugue
 The subject is stated by the first voice.
 The other voices then enter imitating the
same subject, one at a time.
 The voices alternate subject and answer.
 Baroque Listening Example
“Fugue in G Minor”
By J. S. Bach
 Classical Activation
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKhH2
hRa-WQ
 Mozart Clip
 Classical Period
 The Classical period began around 1750
and lasted until 1830.
 This was when Benjamin Franklin was
discovering electricity.
 This was also when the United States was
being founded.
 Music of the Classical Period
 Music was simpler to play than Baroque
music.
 Music was written for everyone.
 Common people began attending
concerts.
 Emotions were controlled in the music.
 There were not extremes in tempo,
dynamics, etc. like in the Baroque period.
 Classical Music
A symphony usually has 3 or 4
movements and uses the entire orchestra.
 Orchestras were small, around 40 people,
at the beginning of this period. They grew
larger near the end.
 Rondo form, ABACA, was commonly
used. It alternates between one main
themes and contrasting themes.
 Classical Listening Example
 “Rondo alla turka”
 By Mozart
 Creating Music!
 Ingroups of four or five, you will be
composing a piece in the Rondo Form.
(ABACA)
 Use the handout to help you write your
rhythms. Each section should be two
measures long. (Write in the counts)
 The time signature must stay the same
throughout the piece.
 Each person will only clap one section. (For
the smaller groups, figure out who will clap
two sections.)
 Romantic Activation
 Fantasia/Fantasia 2000 Clip – Sorcerer’s
Apprentice
 Think – Pair – Share – what do you think
are characteristics of Romantic period
music?
 Romantic Period
 The Romantic period began around 1830
and ended around 1900.
 Yes, there was some overlap between the
classical period and romantic period.
 In fact, Beethoven bridged the two periods
during his lifetime.
 Romantic Music
 Program music tells a story or describes
something.
 Music is filled with passion and drama.
 Composers used music to overwhelm listeners
with emotion, writing sad, sweeping pieces
about love and heartbreak and magical fantasies
about goblins, witches, and swans.
 The orchestra is arranged as we know it and
was led by a conductor with a baton.
 The most popular instrument was the piano.
 Romantic Listening Example
 “March,” from The Nutcracker
 By Tchaikovsky
 Modern Activiation
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ce4TCt
h0gGM&feature=PlayList&p=0C7DE39351
91D7D6&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&i
ndex=1
 John Cage Piano Sonata X for prepared
piano
Modern Period
1900 – Present
 Neoclassical
 Composer: Aaron Copland
 Uses techniques used in Baroque and
Classical periods
 Opposition to current musical trends
 Serialism
 Composer: Arnold Schoenberg
 Music has no tonal center
 Randomly uses all 12 notes of the scale in a
tone row
 Aleatoric: created by chance.
 Minimalism
 Composer: Phillip Glass
 Uses small patterns to create
effects
 Extended Ostinati
 Drones in the background
 Electronic
 Composer: Karlheinz Stockhausen
 Uses tape loops
 Found sounds, recorded then modified
with computer.
 Synthesized sounds: original sounds are
artificially created.
 Modern Review
 A time of musical experimentation
 Electronic music becomes a main focus
 Atonality – Music without a tonal center
 Broken into Currents
1. Neoclassical
2. Serialism
3. Minimalism
4. Electronic
 Modern Listening Example
 “Gentleman’s Honor”
 By Phillip Glass
 Modern Music Categorize
Schoenberg’s Pierrot Lunaire, “Nacht”
Stravinsky’s Symphony in Three
Movements or Aaron Copland’s
Appalachian Spring
Stockhausen’s Gesang der Jünglinge
(literally "Song of the Youths")
John Adam’s Shaker Loops
 Creating Music!!!
 We are going to experiment with
Serialism!
 Each student will create a tone row
melody using all 12 notes of the scale.
 Remember to only use each note once. You
are organizing them in any order that you
want.
 When you are finished you can play it for the
class on a keyboard.
 The End
 This ends our journey through the
different time periods of music history.
 This does not include current musical
styles from across the world, including
popular music of our own country.