Wednesday 26 January 2005
The beginnings of Western Music

• "Western Music", for purposes of this class, refers to the music of western civilizations.
• The Ancient Western Civilizations were Mesopotamia and Egypt.  Not much is known of the music of this time.  But this is the time of Abraham, David, Solomon, and Moses.  There are many mentions of music in the Old Testament.
• The Early Western Civilizations were Greece and Rome.  Greece developed the arts and sciences, and Rome used them well.  There are many examples of musical instruments and music writing from the time, and there are many mentions of music;  but we still know very little about the music of that era.  The Greeks developed many scales or "modes".  And they came to understand the physics of musical instruments - a string or pipe that was half as long as another would produce a pitch that was an octave higher than the other.
• In Jesus' lifetime there is a rich tradition of Jewish liturgical music which survives to this day, including the Psalms and Allelulias.
• As early as the early 6th century The Roman Catholic Church developed liturgical music for the celebration of the Mass and for other purposes.  (The Rules of St. Benedict, circa AD 520)
• By the end of the 6th century, Pope Gregory I (590-604), and later, Pope Vitalian (657-72) codified a series of chants for all liturgical purposes.  This music has become known as Gregorian Chant.  (Pope Gregory was also important for changing the calendar to almost the way we know it today.)
• Through the Dark Ages and the Middle Ages, music was primarily confined to the Church.
• By the middle ages, music was also something for kings and queens.

Monday 31 January 2005
Medieval Period - from the fall of the Roman Empire in 476 until about the middle of the 15th Century

• Earlier music was monophonic - everyone sang one melody together.
• Earlier music was syllabic - every syllable was sung with just one note.  (Most of the hymns in Gather are syllabic.)
• By the 11th Century, much sung music had two parts.
• By the 14th century, music was more complex, with three, four, and even more than four-part harmonies.  Melismatic music developed, too, with syllables being sung with many notes -- a sort of example is The Star Spangled Banner:  "Oh say does tha-at Star Span-gled Ban-ner-er ye-et wa-ave . . . "  Melismatic music generally has 6 or 8 or more notes to a syllable.
• By the 15th Century, singers were becoming more skillful, and writing for voices was taking advantage of that.

Tuesday 1 February 2005
The Renaissance - from the middle of the 15th Century through the end of the 16th Century

• By the 16th Century, the Council of Trent was dealing with the Protestant Reformation.  The Council also was concerned with the complexity of music - that it was too noisy and that the words could not be understood.
• Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina wrote a Mass for Pope Marcellus - this music is considered to be a major turning point in musical style.

Monday 7 February 2005
Timeline Assignment:  Click here  Due Monday 7 March 2005.
American Pie - Part 1

Tuesday 8 February 2005
American Pie - Part 2

• 3 February 1959 - Airplane crash kills four
• The day the music died, in Iowa
• Richie Valens dies at the age of 17
• Long after 'day the music died,' the Big Bopper's legend lives on

Wednesday 9 February 2005
American Pie Assignment:  Click here  Due Monday 14 February 2005.
More about the Renaissance

Monday 14 February 2005
American Pie Assignment is due, and will be discussed.
The timeline assignment will be explained.
There will be some time for discussion of the periods and styles of music, to be continued on Tuesday.

Tuesday 15 February 2005
Check students' notes on Timeline
More about the Renaissance
The Baroque Period

Tuesday 22 February 2005
Check students' notes on Timeline
Return American Pie papers and discuss
Baroque and Rococo Periods
J.S. Bach

Wednesday 23 February 2005
Check students' notes on Timeline
Pythagoras is considered to be the first person in Western Civilization to have studied music (scientifically), especially with respect to pitch. He discovered that a string or pipe (reed) of a certain length produced a certain pitch, and that a string or pipr (reed) of half that length produced a pitch one octave higher. He also studied strings and pipes of 1/3, 1/4, 1/5, 1/6, 1/7, 1/8, and so on. He discovered that octaves were produced by 1, 1/2, 1/4, 1/8, etc., and that "fifths" were produced by 1, 1/3, 1/6 1/12, and so on. This "pure-tempered" tuning system was used for the next 2100 years.

The well-tempered tuning system which we use today began to come into existance only around the time of J.S. Bach.

Monday 28 February 2005
Check students' notes on Timeline
Quiz on music history up to 1750

Tuesday 1 March 2005
Check students' notes on Timeline
Go over quiz.

Monday 7 March 2005
Test on music history up to 1750
Timeline Assignment is Due

Tuesday 8 March 2005
The Classical Period

Wednesday 9 March 2005
The Romantic Period

Monday 14 March 2005

20th Century

This page updated 24 February 2005 at 17:00