The Baroque Period

The Baroque Period went from 1600-1750. Many musical developments occurred during the time period. One thing was the beginning of the orchestra and orchestral music. The orchestral was formed by Claudio Monteverdi, an Italian composer. Two types of orchestral music he created was the basso continuo and early forms of instrumental opera. The bass continuio was a type of music that had a bass line accompaniment with a harpsichord as the main line. Early opera music consisted of combining poetry, music, and stage visuals.
The instruments used in the Baroque orchestra were flutes, violins, and other woodwinds. Other instruments included the theorbo and the harpsichord. The theorbo is a plucked string instrument. It has a long necked lutes and is typically a bass instrument.
Other types of music in the baroque period were fugues, cantatas, overtures, oratorios, and suites. Fugues were philharmonic pieces with a certain number of voices that is related to the others voices by tonal and harmonic lines. The fugue was created by JS Bach. Cantatas are vocal compositions with accompaniment with several movements. Overtures are instrumental introductions to dramas, choral pieces, or instrumental compositions. The overture wasn't developed until the late 1700's. Oratorios were musical compositions that included an orchestra, a choir, and soloists. Perhaps the most famous oratorio is George Handel's Messiah. Suites are ordered sets of instrumental or orchestral pieces that are extracts from bigger compositions.
Many instruments were created during the baroque period. The organ, which was used in mostly church services. Woodwinds included the flute, the oboe, the recorder, the bassoon, and the contra bassoon. Brass included the trumpet, the sackbut(close to a modern trombone), the trombone, and the horn. The woodwinds were mostly used for orchestras while the brass was mostly used for town bands. String instruments included the lute, the violin, the viola, the viol, the violoncello, the contrabass, and the harp. These instruments were used primarily in the orchestra. All of the these instruments were great developments in the Baroque period.
Music and art related in this time period. Music was developing into a way of expressing emotions through music and acting. Art was developing into paintings that express human emotion as well.
The Baroque period was full of musical developments and advances. The music from this time era was experimenting with many new instruments and method. The composers of the time made amazing compositions and created methods that we still use today. This period is the basis of today's modern music.

Reniassance Art and Music

The Renaissance Era was full of art, inventions, and discovery. The era went from the 14th to 16th century. In this time period, many artists became available and they painted some magnificent pieces of art. The famous painting of Mona Lisa was painted by artist Leonardo da Vinci. This painting was the only painting in this era of a person smiling.
Another famous painting was the School of Athens by artist Raphael. The painting’s meaning is to describe knowledge. Each of the four walls in the painting means something different. They are as follows: Seek Knowledge of Causes, Divine Inspiration, Knowledge of Things Devine, and To Each What Is Due.
The artist Michelangelo painted Crucifixion of St. Peter as to show the pain and suffering St. Peter endured while being crucified. He showed details in the viewers’ faces to show the look in their faces that they knew someone was going to die.
An artist not heard of very often is the German artist Albrecht Altdorfer. Altdorfer painted mostly religious scenes and some landscape scenes. One of his famous paintings was The Resurrection. The scene was that of Jesus Christ coming back to life from the dead and showing the amazement on peoples’ faces.
Music in the Reniassance Era was developing more as the period progressed. Instruments such as the slide trumpet (similar to a modern day trombone) and the cornett were invented duirng this time period. Other instruments such as the transverse flute, the bagpipes, and the voil were also invented during this time era.
Music in this time period was mostly played in Cathlic Mass services and for special events. The most popular music was secular music. This non-sacred music was played for entertainment in the streets rather than in the church. Music was also first printed via the printing press during this time era.
Some composers of the Reniassance included William Bryd who wrote
Parthenia, Josquin de Prez who was hired bt the Queen of England to write music, and Claudio Monteverdi who made a series of books containing different pieces he wrote. There are many other artists and these are just a few to name.
The Reniassnace Era was full and music and art and in many ways, they related to each other. Beginnings of music and art in this era have shaped the styles and methods we use today.

Medieval Music

The Middle Ages, otherwise known as the Medieval Period, was full of darkness and death in England. Due to the cold, artic temperatures in England at this time, illness was prone to strike many homes. With all of the sickness and death, England didn't have much room to advance. Musical advances were not common in the majority of England except in Monk societies. Different kinds of music the Monks used were: plainsong, parallel organum, free organum, melismatic organum, and counterpoint. Plainsong, or plainchant, was the basis or these types and was known as monophonic. Gregorain Chant, named after Pope Gregory I, was used in Catholic Mass and other religious services. Parallel Organum, usually consisting of 4th and 5th harmonies, was used greatly in Notre Dame. People such as the trouvéres and the troubadours, spread this music throughout England. They would sometimes spread this music in the form of a motet. A motet is a vocal composition in polyphonic style, on a Biblical or similar prose text, intended for use in a church service.
Different instruments used in the Middle Ages were the Hurdy-Gurdy, a wooden string instrument; the Harpsichord, a stringed piano; the Lute, a guitar like instrument with wide body; and the Medieval Shawm, a wooden clarinet-type instrument. One of the main instruments used in the Medieval Period was the harp. The harp is a stringed aristocratic instrument used in all parts of Europe. The Troubadors used this instrument the most and would often sing lyrics along with playing the harp. The harpers would sometimes lead armies into battle and were not harmed by the enemy because they were respected by them. These instruments were used for mostly entertainment, but were used for other things as well.
Besides in England, music was advancing in other countries. In China, the musicians were developing pentatonic and diatonic compositions. Pieces included 12 notes to an octave and were mostly diatonic. To me, the most interesting advances were the rap developments in Scotland. Rap music originated in Scotish pubs back in the Middle Ages. The Scots would battle with insults back and forth. This came from the ancient art of Caledonia and it was called flyting.
Medieval music was different in all parts of the world. Some of the advances during this time are a basis to modern music and instruments we use today. In knowing how things such as theory and scales started back in this time period, is very interesting. Even with all of the death and darkness, music still survived and prevailed.

Ancient Music Before 300 A.D.

Throughout the ages, music has been used for many things. Such things are: entertainment, parties, gatherings, battles, ceremonies, rituals, and communication. Different cultures used music for various things. The Celts played instruments such as the bodhran, the feadan, the clarsach, and piob. The bodhran is a type of drum made from animal skin for the drum head and ash tree wood for the base. This is known as the oldest form of musical instruments in the world. The Celts used all of these instruments for entertainment, rituals, and gatherings. The Ancient Greeks used string instruments such as the Lyre. The Lyre or λύρα, has three or more strings and and soundbox. The Greeks used this mostly for entertainment. The Lyre has become a symbol of general music all over the world.

Another type of instrument the Greeks used was the Water Organ (ὕδωρ, hýdōr). The power of hydraulic pressure was used to make sound go through the pipes in the organ. The Greeks used the water organ for battles, ceremonies, and entertianment. The Ancient Egyptians used instruments such as hand-held drums, castanets(similar to Celtic bones excpet made with shells), rattles, and bells. Other instruments include flutes, trumpets, double and single reed woodwinds, and many string instruments such as the harp, lyre, and lutes(used with a bow). They used music for battles, ceremonies, and religion. These cultures are just a small example of ancient musical instruments.

Besides using instruments, ancient cultures used music notation. The Seikilos epitaph is the oldest form of notation recorded. It was found on the side of a tombstone in Turkey. The tune includes ancient notation and lyrics. The notation transcribed into modern notation is in the key of D and is in 6/8 time signature. The symbols on the notation each mean a specific note name and the marks above the symbols represent the type of note(quarter, eight, etc). The lyrics attached are placed below the notes to know where and what to sing with the notes.
The lyrics are as follows:
While you live, shine
Don't suffer anything at all;
Life exists only a short while
And time demands its toll.

Types of ancient music like this were taught in many places. For example, the music teacher, Terpander, is know as the founder of classical Greek music. He expanded the world of music in many ways. One of the things he did was increase the number of strings on the lyre from four to seven. Another thing he did was introduce new rhythms and new ways a using music.

Ancient music is a wonderful and interesting subject. There are so many things about the history of music I didn't know that I learned by doing this research assignment. The most interesting to me was the Seikilos epitaph. It is amazing how that old type of notation looks and how it is interpreted. I hope to expand my knowledge in the history of music by doing more reseach like this and doing some on my own.

Introduction to Adding Research Links and Photos

Today we learned how to add links to our blogs. This will be very helpful for research and with other blogs. Here is a link to the ancient bone flute. Next we learned how to add photo links. Here is a picture of the bone flute.

Music Appreciation and History...

Music Appreciation, or Music App as I like to call it, is a great class. Our teacher Mr. Allder, is starting us off by having us listen to music from different time periods. After listening to a song, we give our opinions on whether we like or not and why. In our responses, we use musical terms to describe how we felt about that song. It has been a good experience learning how other people view different kinds of music. Today we moved on to ancient music and read some in the classroom's music books. It was fascinating to learn that ancient cultures made instruments and worked with scales. I'm looking forward to learning more about the past's music as we go on in the year.