Medieval Music Essays - Medieval Music, Chants, Catholic Music

Medieval Music Essays - Medieval Music, Chants, Catholic Music Medieval Music Music of the Middle Ages made great advancements through the centuries, which many are still evident today. The Christian Church effected the development of music greatly during the middle ages. The first major type of music of this time was chanting. ?The early Christians inherited the Jewish chants of synagogues.?(Bishop-324) Chants didn?t have constant rhythm, every note was about the same length. They had only one melody ,usually in the major key of C. All the singers sang the same notes together, this is called monophonic. Chants became an significant part of the church service, they were sung throughout the mass. These first chants were just sung by the congregation, later on choirs took over. ?Roman Chant became known as Gregorian chant after Pope Gregory I, the great, who may have composed some of the melodies and who actively encouraged an orderly, ritualized use of music by the church.?(MS Encarta-1) He also supported the schola cantorum, a singing school, to teach boys how to chant. During the ninth century many musicians began to use more than unaccompanied melody. A new type of chant was formed called organom. Organum was two octaves of chanting simultaneously. ?Organum was important to the history of music, because it was the first step toward the development of the musical texture known as polyphony (multipart music) the extensive use of which is the most distinctive feature of Western music.? (MS Encarta-1) Around the twelfth century Organum was mostly being developed in France, but the English did have their own version called gymel. If musicians were to chant many pitches at the same time, they needed a more accurate musical notation. Before this, the notation being used wasn?t precise at all. ?Music notation was originally merely a set of small marks, a sort of short hand, written above the words to indicate the rise and fall of the voice and changes in emphasis, without specifying the duration of the notes or the exact pitch.?(Bishop-325) The new way of writing musical notes was black squares and diamonds attached to little poles on a staff of four or five lines, very similar to how we write music today. Music, during the fourteenth century, made great changes in style. ?The new style was called ars nova (Latin, ?new art?) by one of it?s leading composers, the French prelate Philippe de Vitry. The resulting music was more complex than any previously written, reflecting a new spirit in Europe that emphasized human resourcefulness and ingenuity.?(MS Encarta-2) De Vitry also invented the earliest version of the time signature, making it easier to play and write more complicated patterns. Ars nova composers began to repeat the same patterns of either one or more voice parts, usually from Gregorian chant, throughout the piece. Over that they would put other melodies making it polyphonic. ?Nonreligious, or secular, music was composed by wandering poets who sang of chivalry and courtly love in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries.?(Comptons-1) Some of these musicians made a living of singing, others did it for the enjoyment. These singers, Troubadours and Goliards, didn?t have a wide range of singing styles. Over 2,000 of these songs have been written and saved in old documents made after the twelfth century though. ?The musician of the early Middle Ages seems usually to have been minstrel either resident in a large establishment or traveling from establishment to another, singing the lays and sagas to his own accompaniment.?(Montagu-19) Musicians were needed to support other types of entertainment as well. Acrobats would perform to music, just like jugglers, and dancing bears. Poor workers didn?t have much to do for entertainment except for music. They would tell stories to music or have people sing while they danced. They probably sang while working together too, like a type of sea chantey. Even though they were enjoyed by many people, musicians were still considered a very low class. Many of the first instruments of the early Middle Ages were taken from the earlier Roman Empire, or from other cultures around the world. One string instrument used a lot was the lyre. ?It is possible that the lyre was carried into northern Europe from Constantinople during the late Roman Empire, for many of the Byzantime armies, especially the Imperial Bodyguard, were recruited from the northern peoples.?(Montagu-13) During the early medieval times it was played by plucking the strings with a plectrum or fingers,. Later in the tenth century bows became more popular and the lyre was also played with one. The