DOWNLOAD PDF THE TRADITION OF WESTERN MUSIC

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1 Chapter 1 : Japanese music - Predominant musical traits blog.quintoapp.com Classical music is a broad, imprecise category, including music produced in, or rooted in the traditions of art, ecclesiastical and concert music. A music is classical if it includes some of the following features: a learned tradition, support from the church or government, or greater cultural capital. Origins[ edit ] Western was directly influenced by the folk music traditions of England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland, and many cowboy songs, sung around campfires in the nineteenth century, like " Streets of Laredo ", can be traced back to European folk songs. The harmonica, invented in the early 19th century in central Europe, arrived in North America shortly before the American Civil War, as the United States was just beginning to expand westward; its small size and portability made it a favorite among the American public and the westward pioneers. Otto Gray, an early cowboy band leader, stated authentic Western music had only three rhythms, all coming from the gaits of the cow pony: Gray also noted the uniqueness of this spontaneous American song product, and the freedom of expression of the singers. Containing only lyrics and no musical notation, the book was very popular west of the Mississippi River. Most of these cowboy songs are of unknown authorship, but among the best known is "Little Joe, the Wrangler," written by Thorp himself. The band appeared on radio and toured the vaudeville circuit from through They recorded few songs, however, so are overlooked by many scholars of Western music. The first "western" song was published in Titled " Blue Juniata ", the song is about a young Indian maid waiting for her brave along the banks of the Juniata River in Pennsylvania at that time, anything west of the Appalachian Mountains was considered "out West". The song was recorded and sung by the Sons of the Pioneers over a hundred years later and is still being sung today. Western music is not limited to the American cowboy. Singing cowboys, such as Gene Autry and Roy Rogers, sang cowboy songs in their films and became popular throughout the United States. Film producers began incorporating fully orchestrated four-part harmonies and sophisticated musical arrangements into their motion pictures. Bing Crosby, the most popular singer of that time, recorded numerous cowboy and Western songs and starred in the Western musical film Rhythm on the Range During this era, the most popular recordings and musical radio shows included Western music. Western swing also developed during this time. Decline in popularity[ edit ] By the s, the popularity of Western music was in decline. Relegated to the country and western genre by marketing agencies, popular Western recording artists sold fewer albums and attracted smaller audiences. Rock and roll dominated music sales and Hollywood recording studios dropped most of their Western artists a few artists did successfully cross between the two, most prominently Johnny Cash, whose breakthrough hit " Folsom Prison Blues " combined a western theme with a rock-and-roll arrangement. In addition, the Nashville sound, based more on pop ballads than on folk music, came to dominate the country and western commercial sales; except for the label, much of the music was indistinguishable from rock and roll or popular classes of music. The resulting backlash from Western music purists led to the development of country music styles much more influenced by Western music, including the Bakersfield sound and outlaw country. The Academy was formed in response to the Nashville-oriented Country Music Association that had formed in Over time, the Academy evolved into the Academy of Country Music and its mission is no longer distinguished from other country music organizations. The Western Writers of America was formed in to promote excellence in Western-style writing, including songwriting. Rediscovery[ edit ] Older music is still available at retail stores in major population centers, through mail-order, or by the Internet. New Western music is constantly written and recorded and performed all across the American West and Western Canada. Furthermore, the Red Dead series of games heavily features Western music, since it takes place in an Old West setting. Page 1

2 Chapter 2 : The Middle Ages Beginning in the late 6th century, according to tradition, with Pope Gregory I, the vast number of traditional melodies that became the foundation for the later development of Western art music were codified and organized. Medieval music While musical life was undoubtedly rich in the early Medieval era, as attested by artistic depictions of instruments, writings about music, and other records, the only repertory of music which has survived from before to the present day is the plainsong liturgical music of the Roman Catholic Church, the largest part of which is called Gregorian chant. Pope Gregory I, who gave his name to the musical repertory and may himself have been a composer, is usually claimed to be the originator of the musical portion of the liturgy in its present form, though the sources giving details on his contribution date from more than a hundred years after his death. Many scholars believe that his reputation has been exaggerated by legend. Most of the chant repertory was composed anonymously in the centuries between the time of Gregory and Charlemagne. During the 9th century several important developments took place. First, there was a major effort by the Church to unify the many chant traditions, and suppress many of them in favor of the Gregorian liturgy. Second, the earliest polyphonic music was sung, a form of parallel singing known as organum. Third, and of greatest significance for music history, notation was reinvented after a lapse of about five hundred years, though it would be several more centuries before a system of pitch and rhythm notation evolved having the precision and flexibility that modern musicians take for granted. Several schools of polyphony flourished in the period after Much of the later secular music of the early Renaissance evolved from the forms, ideas, and the musical aesthetic of the troubadours, courtly poets and itinerant musicians, whose culture was largely exterminated during the Albigensian Crusade in the early 13th century. Forms of sacred music which developed during the late 13th century included the motet, conductus, discant, and clausulae. One unusual development was the Geisslerlieder, the music of wandering bands of flagellants during two periods: Their music mixed folk song styles with penitential or apocalyptic texts. The 14th century in European music history is dominated by the style of the ars nova, which by convention is grouped with the medieval era in music, even though it had much in common with early Renaissance ideals and aesthetics. Much of the surviving music of the time is secular, and tends to use the formes fixes: Most pieces in these forms are for one to three voices, likely with instrumental accompaniment: Renaissance music The beginning of the Renaissance in music is not as clearly marked as the beginning of the Renaissance in the other arts, and unlike in the other arts, it did not begin in Italy, but in northern Europe, specifically in the area currently comprising central and northern France, the Netherlands, and Belgium. The style of the Burgundian composers, as the first generation of the Franco-Flemish school is known, was at first a reaction against the excessive complexity and mannered style of the late 14th century ars subtilior, and contained clear, singable melody and balanced polyphony in all voices. The most famous composers of the Burgundian school in the midth century are Guillaume Dufay, Gilles Binchois, and Antoine Busnois. By the middle of the 15th century, composers and singers from the Low Countries and adjacent areas began to spread across Europe, especially into Italy, where they were employed by the papal chapel and the aristocratic patrons of the arts such as the Medici, the Este, and the Sforza families. They carried their style with them: Principal forms of sacred musical composition at the time were the mass, the motet, and the laude ; secular forms included the chanson, the frottola, and later the madrigal. The invention of printing had an immense influence on the dissemination of musical styles, and along with the movement of the Franco-Flemish musicians, contributed to the establishment of the first truly international style in European music since the unification of Gregorian chant under Charlemagne. Music in the generation after Josquin explored increasing complexity of counterpoint ; possibly the most extreme expression is in the music of Nicolas Gombert, whose contrapuntal complexities influenced early instrumental music, such as the canzona and the ricercar, ultimately culminating in Baroque fugal forms. By the middle of the 16th century, the international style began to break down, and several highly diverse stylistic trends became evident: The music of the Venetian school included the development of orchestration, ornamented instrumental parts, and continuo bass parts, all of which occurred within a span of several decades Page 2

3 around Famous composers in Venice included the Gabrielis, Andrea and Giovanni, as well as Claudio Monteverdi, one of the most significant innovators at the end of the era. Most parts of Europe had active and well-differentiated musical traditions by late in the century. In England, composers such as Thomas Tallis and William Byrd wrote sacred music in a style similar to that written on the continent, while an active group of home-grown madrigalists adapted the Italian form for English tastes: Germany cultivated polyphonic forms built on the Protestant chorales, which replaced the Roman Catholic Gregorian Chant as a basis for sacred music, and imported the style of the Venetian school the appearance of which defined the start of the Baroque era there. In addition, German composers wrote enormous amounts of organ music, establishing the basis for the later Baroque organ style which culminated in the work of J. One of the most revolutionary movements in the era took place in Florence in the s and s, with the work of the Florentine Camerata, who ironically had a reactionary intent: Chief among them were Vincenzo Galilei, the father of the astronomer, and Giulio Caccini. The fruits of their labors was a declamatory melodic singing style known as monody, and a corresponding staged dramatic form: The first operas, written around, also define the end of the Renaissance and the beginning of the Baroque eras. Music prior to was modal rather than tonal. Several theoretical developments late in the 16th century, such as the writings on scales on modes by Gioseffo Zarlino and Franchinus Gaffurius, led directly to the development of common practice tonality. The major and minor scales began to predominate over the old church modes, a feature which was at first most obvious at cadential points in compositions, but gradually became pervasive. Music after, beginning with the tonal music of the Baroque era, is often referred to as belonging to the common practice period. Page 3

4 Chapter 3 : A History of Western Choral Music The following is an outline of the history of Western classical music. Although "Western" and "classical" are inexact terms, they do name a reasonably coherent musical tradition that stretches from the Dark Ages to the present day. Although "Western" and "classical" are inexact terms, they do name a reasonably coherent musical tradition that stretches from the Dark Ages to the present day. The descriptive texts will not delve deeply into matters of musical meaning or technique; the purpose of the outline is to give you a basic working familiarity with different periods and styles. Medieval History Plainchant through Machaut Western classical music history is traditionally understood as beginning with plainchant also called "Gregorian" chant, the vocal religious practice of the Roman Catholic Church. Plainchant was transmitted by memory until the early 9th century, when the Holy Roman Emperor Charlemagne arranged for it to be notated, and for standardized plainchant books to be distributed to churches and monasteries across Europe. Limited in pitch range and monophonic i. Plainchant was sung in the Divine Offices, eight daily prayer services using Old Testament texts, and in the Mass, a midmorning celebration of the life and death of Jesus Christ. Alleluia pascha nostrum before [ Text ] The earliest major repertory of Western secular non-religious music which has come down to us is that of the troubadors and trouveres, French poet-musicians of the Middle Ages who set their own poems to music. The majority of the resulting songs were about love, often the fictionalized, abstracted "courtly love" of a male character for a noblewoman above his social level. Because troubador songs were notated as simple rows of pitches without rhythm, the rhythms and instrumental accompaniments of modern performances are based on conjecture; images of troubadors in medieval manuscripts have offered hints as to what instruments were played. Bernart de Ventadorn c. Bernart de Ventadorn, " La douza votz " The sweet voice late 12th c. He did this by greatly slowing down an existing plainchant, and adding to it a new, more rapidly flowing musical line at a higher pitch. This technique was called organum; the slowed-down plainchant was called the tenor. This example uses the Alleluia pascha nostrum plainchant as its tenor; it was sung as part of Easter services at the spectacular Gothic cathedral Notre Dame of Paris. Alleluia pascha nostrum late 12th c. Perotin slowed down the tenor to an incredible degree--in this example, it takes the tenor four minutes to sing the two words "Viderunt omnes"! Viderunt omnes is a gradual, a joyful text sung in response to a New Testament reading during Mass It was sung on Christmas Day. Soon, three-part motets appeared, with a different text sung in each voice. Sometimes the texts were in different languages! Composers came to use for tenors secular French songs as well as passages of plainchant. One such composer was Guillaume de Machaut c. The following motet is based on a secular tenor; each of its three voices sings a different French love poem. Nuper rosarum flores commemorates the dedication of the cathedral Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence in Dufay owed his rich sound to harmonic techniques brought from England by his contemporary John Dunstable. The Ordinary is composed of five texts--kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, and Agnus Dei the first words of the texts --that were included in every Mass, not only in Masses that celebrated special occasions. Each text was set as a separate movement. Often, each movement began with a similar melody, in which case the Mass was called "cyclic"; when that melody was taken from plainchant or from a secular song, the Mass was called a "parody Mass" "parody" meant in the sense of imitation, but not humorously. The most famous mass of Josquin des Pres was that parodying the plainchant beginning with the text "Pangue lingua. Josquin, Missa Pangue Lingua, Gloria c. The madrigal typically set a poem in Italian later, often in English with an intense emotional cast. The setting was usually for four or five voices with no instrumental accompaniment, although instruments were probably added in performance at times. The most famous example of his work is Il bianco e dolce cigno. Luca Marenzio was the most celebrated "madrigalist" of his day. Marenzio, Solo e pensoso Alone and Pensive [ Text ] The instrumental music of the Renaissance largely fell into two categories: The German Michael Praetorius? Praetorius gave no indication of what instruments were to be used--his dances were played by whatever instruments were available. Here, the Early Music Consort of London switches between four different "consorts" of instruments, one per volte, before all four consorts play the end of the fourth volte together. A consort was a set of instruments similar in design and tone but varied in size and pitch. Bach The Page 4

5 Baroque era of Western classical music is usually defined as the period from to These dates are, of course, rough; the Renaissance dances of Praetorius were written in Two stylistic tendencies that partially define the Baroque were an increased interest in the solo voice and a rise in the status of instruments and instrumental music. The members of the Camerata sought to create a form of stage music comparable in expressive power to ancient Greek tragedy. They disparaged the polyphonic madrigal, creating instead a new form--the opera--in which soloists sang against an instrumental background. The arias in a given opera were separated by recitative, a faster-moving, more speechlike form of singing. Martin Luther, the author of the Reformation, was also a musician; in the 16th century, he collected hundreds of tunes to serve as devotional hymns for his new Protestant Church. The cantatas of Johann Sebastian Bach included both chorales and aria-like solos. Unlike the choral music of the Renaissance, "Wachet auf" included parts written for instruments. Bach, " Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme " Wake up, the voice calls us! While most but not all German cantatas were religious works written for the church, oratorios could be written on secular topics and performed in secular settings. The Messiah, by George Friedrich Handel, was performed in concert halls, but treated a sacred subject: Some complained at the time that such a religious work was out of place in the concert hall. Here is the chorus "All we like sheep have gone astray"--allegorically astray from the righteousness of Jesus and the New Testament God. This movement by Domenico Gallo active 18th c. Gallo, Trio Sonata 1, first movement early 18th century The concerto called for a larger group of instruments than did the trio sonata. The most famous of Baroque violin concertos today are those collected in the Four Seasons of Antonio Vivaldi Reproduced here is the final movement of "Autumn," a movement representing the hunt. Vivaldi, Four Seasons, "Autumn," last movement Keyboard instruments were also vehicles for virtuosic display. The name most closely associated with the toccata is that of Girolamo Frescobaldi This approached consisted of the repetition of the same melody the "subject" in a number of polyphonic "voices," which voices then continued, re-introducing the subject at fairly regular intervals. Pre-eminent among fugues are the 48 in J. Yet the transition from Baroque to Classical was gradual. Three trends of the middle years of the 18th century were behind this transition. The first trend was known as Reform Opera. A number of composers reacted against what they saw as the stilted conventions of Italian Baroque opera. They wanted to make Italian opera more natural, more directly expressive, with more focus on the dramatic narrative and less focus on providing solo singers with passages of elaborate, showy ornamentation. The most successful of these composers was Christoph Willibald Gluck The topics of Reform opera were not new: In the aria "Che fiero momento," Euridice sings of her trepidation at being led away by Orpheus from the calm of the underworld. Gluck, Orfeo ed Euridice, excerpt from Act 3, Scene 1 [ Text ] The second trend was a change in the style of solo keyboard music. Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, a son of the now more famous J. Bach, preferred not the harpsichord but the clavichord and the fortepiano, instruments that could play louder or softer depending on the force with which their keys were struck. Bach, Sonata in B Minor, second movement c. Early symphonies, such as those of Giovanni Battista Sammartini, were modeled on the overtures introductory instrumental pieces of Baroque Italian opera. Sammartini, Symphony in G Major, first movement c. Yet the late 18th-century orchestra still numbered about 30 players, in contrast to the 70 or more players in modern orchestras. Franz Joseph Haydn wrote symphonies during his long career; many of these were written for the private orchestra of Prince Nicholas Esterhazy. Unlike the chamber music of the Baroque, the string quartet lacks a basso continuo. Haydn, String Quartet Op. Although Vienna was in German-speaking territory, Viennese opera was dominated by Italian style, as was the opera of much of Europe. The Italian operas that Mozart wrote in Vienna were in the traditional Italian buffa comic style, yet they went beyond buffa comedy to engage social and moral issues. Although Don Giovanni is normatively an opera buffa, the title character is not comedic; Don Juan, as he is most often known to us, womanizes with a singular ferocity and a disregard for the social class of his victims. The concerti of the Classical period were usually for single soloists, as opposed to groups of soloists as in concerti grossi; the orchestra used was comparable to that used in the Classical symphony. Yet Beethoven was considered a proto-romantic by his 19th-century successors. Those written near the end of his life, such as the one reproduced here, grew farther and farther from the norms of Classical style. The first period includes works that are considered to be closest to the Viennese Classical style of Mozart and Haydn. Page 5

6 Beethoven, String Quartet op. What is certain is that many early 19th-century composers were influenced by the literary Romantics, such as Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Poems by Goethe and other German-speaking authors were set to music, to be performed by solo singer and piano; these brief settings were known as Lieder literally, "songs"; but distinguished from the less weighty Gesangen. Robert Schumann was renowned for his Lieder. Schumann, " Kennst du das Land? A program, in the musical sense, is a narrative that is to be presented, or at least suggested, by a purely instrumental composition. It was an open secret that the artist was a fictionalized version of Berlioz himself, struck with love for with the actress Harriet Smithson. Berlioz, Symphonie fantastique Fantasy Symphony, fourth movement The 19th century was also the heyday of the piano "miniature," short in length yet often emotionally charged. Fryderyk Chopin was born in Poland, but lived in Paris for most of his working life. He composed solo piano music almost exclusively. Like many composers of the middle and late 19th century, Verdi was an ardent nationalist, believing that music written by Italians should exemplify a particularly Italian style. This style was based on a type of singing called bel canto "beautifully sung", which involved continuous, flowing melodies, emphasis on vowels, and long, high climaxes at dramatic points. Verdi also made heavy use of onstage choruses, often creating scenes in which the singing of soloists and of the chorus overlapped. Also like Verdi, Wagner was a fervid nationalist; he believed that German opera should be free of Italian and French influence, to the point of excluding self-contained arias entirely. Page 6

7 Chapter 4 : SUMMARY OF WESTERN CLASSICAL MUSIC HISTORY The Tradition Of Western Music has 1 rating and 1 review. Alejandro said: An uneven book which forty years after it was first published still includes at. Its agriculture, writing, cities, and systems of trade derive from the ancient Near East. Its mathematics, calendar, astronomy, and medicine grew from Mesopotamian, Egyptian, Greek, and Roman sources. Its philosophy is founded on Plato and Aristotle. Its primary religions, Christianity and Judaism, arose in the ancient Near East and were influenced by Greek thought. Its literature grew out of Greek and Latin traditions and drew on ancient myth and scripture. Its artists imitated ancient sculpture and architecture. From medieval empires to modern democracies, governments have looked to Greece and Rome for examples. Western music also has roots in antiquity, from concepts such as notes, intervals, and scales to ideas about how music affects emotions and character. The strongest direct influence comes through Greek writings, which became the foundation for European views of music. The influence of ancient music itself is more difficult to trace. Little notated music survived, and few if any European musicians before the sixteenth century could read the ancient notation. Yet some musical practices continued, passed down through oral tradition. These echoes of ancient music in the European tradition are reason enough to begin our survey by examining the roles of music in ancient cultures, the links between ancient practices and those of later centuries, and the debt Western music owes to ancient Greece. Starting with ancient music also lets us consider how we can learn about music of the past. Music is sound, and sound is by its nature impermanent. What remains of the music from past eras are its historical traces, which we can divide into four main types: Using these traces, we can try to reconstruct what music of a past culture was like, recognizing that our understanding will always be partial and will be influenced by our own values and concerns. We are most confident of success when we have all four types of evidence in abundance. But for ancient music, relatively little remains. Even for Greece, by far the best-documented ancient musical tradition, we have only a small portion of the instruments, images, writings, and music that once existed. For other cultures we have no music at all. By examining what traces survive and what we can conclude from them, we can explore how each type of evidence contributes to our understanding of music of the past. Only historical traces of the music from past eras survive. Physical objects, such as musical instruments Visual images of musicians and instruments Writings about music and musicians Music as preserved in notation Ancient Greek music influenced Western music. The ancient Greeks left more surviving evidence than other ancient cultures. Western music has its roots in antiquity, especially in ancient Greek theoretical writings. Prehistoric Music-Making Before 36, B. Images in Turkish cave paintings show drummers accompanying dancers and driving out game. Surviving Bronze Age metal instruments include bells, cymbals, rattles, and horns. Stone carvings show plucked stringed instruments. Pictures show music-making with instruments. Surviving instruments include lyres and harps. Lyres see HWM Figures 1. A crossbar supported by two arms secures the strings. The number of strings varies. Harps Strings are perpendicular to the soundboard. A neck attached to the soundbox secures the strings. Other instruments from the period include lutes, pipes, drums, bells, and other percussion instruments. The ruling class left the most evidence because they could buy instruments and hire scribes. Most uses of music in ancient Mesopotamia were similar to those of today. For rituals, including weddings and funerals In daily life, including nursery songs, work songs, and dance music For entertainment at feasts For religious ceremonies and processions Epics sung with instrumental accompaniment Written documentation from Mesopotamia Word lists from ca. The earliest known composer is Enheduanna fl. She was a high priestess at Ur. She composed hymns songs to a god to the god and goddess of the moon. Only the texts of her hymns survive. Babylonian musicians began writing about music ca. Instructions for tuning a string instrument using a seven-note diatonic scale playable on the white keys of a piano Interval theory, with names of intervals used to create the earliest known notation see HWM Figure 1. Not enough is known about the notation to transcribe it. The poem seems to be a hymn to the wife of the moon god, but the language Hurrian cannot be translated entirely. Although Babylonians had a form of notation, musicians most likely performed from memory, improvised, or used notation as a recipe for Page 7

8 reconstructing a melody. Babylonian music theory seems to have influenced later Greek theory. Other Civilizations Instruments, images, and writings about East Asian musical cultures survive, but they seem not to have influenced Greek or European music. Egyptian sources include artifacts, paintings, and hieroglyphic writings in tombs, but scholars have not been able to determine whether there is any notated music. The Bible describes ancient musical practices in Israel which in turn influenced Christian music, but ancient copies of the Bible may not have any notation. Instruments and Their Uses Evidence of Greek instruments survives in writings, archaeological remains, and hundreds of images on pots. Aulos see HWM Figure 1. Pitch could be changed by position in the mouth, air pressure, and fingering. Images show the two pipes being fingered the same, but they could produce octaves, parallel fifths or fourths, drone, and unisons. The aulos was used in the worship of Dionysus. Dionysus was the god of fertility and wine, hence the drinking scene in HWM Figure 1. The aulos accompanied or alternated with choruses in the great tragedies of Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides that were written for Dionysian festivals. The lyre see HWM Figure 1. The player held the instrument in front, supporting it on the hip and from a strap around the left wrist. Both hands were free to touch the strings. The right hand strummed the strings. The fingers of the left hand touched the strings, perhaps to dampen them or to create harmonics. The lyre was associated with Apollo, god of light, prophecy, learning, and the arts especially music and poetry. Both men and women played the lyre. Learning to play the lyre was a core element of education in Athens. The lyre was also played for recreation. The kithara was a large lyre. Contests and music festivals became popular after the fifth century B. An account of a musical competition in B. Famous artists performed for large crowds, gave concert tours, and demanded high fees from wealthy patrons. Women were excluded from competition but could perform recitals, often to critical acclaim. Other than the virtuoso soloists, the majority of professional performers were slaves or servants. Greek Musical Thought We know about Greek musical thought through two kinds of writings: Performance of music Music as a performing art was called melos the root of the word melody. Music was monophonic, consisting of one melodic line. There was no concept of harmony or counterpoint. Instruments embellished the melody while a soloist or chorus sang the original version, creating heterophony. Music and poetry were nearly synonymous. There was no word for artful speech without music. Many Greek words for poetic types are musical terms-e. Music and number Pythagoras and his followers recognized the numerical relationships that underlay musical intervals-e. Harmonia was the concept of an orderly whole divisible by parts. The term applied to the order of the universe. Music was allied to astronomy through the notion of harmonia. Mathematical laws were the underpinnings of musical intervals and the movements of heavenly bodies alike. The parts of the human soul could be restored to a healthy balance harmony by the correct type of music. The Mixolydian, Dorian, and Phrygian melodies combinations of mode, melodic turns, and general style each had specific effects on the listener. The theory of imitation holds that a person will imitate the ethos of the music they hear. Aristotle admits that music is enjoyable see last sentence of HWM Source Reading, page 16 and enjoyment is acceptable when part of education and ethos. He discourages high-born citizens from training to become professionals or entering in competitions because performing for pleasure alone is menial and vulgar. The Dorian and Phrygian harmoniai fostered the virtues of temperance and courage. Music should not have complex scales or mixed genres, rhythms or instruments. Changes in musical conventions could lead to lawlessness in art and anarchy in society. Distinguishes between continuous movement of voice and diastematic intervallic movement Defines note, interval, and scale Intervals defined abstractly versus Babylonian definition based on specific strings of the lyre or harp Tetrachord theory Tetrachord: The genera were an attempt to explain actual musical practices. Page 8

9 Chapter 5 : The Two Most Important Scales in Western Music - GUITARHABITS Comment: VG/VG+. Red cloth with bright gilt lettering on spine, corners and spine ends show slight bumping and wear, a little other shelf rubbing. DJ shows a little creasing at the spine ends, otherwise great, protected in mylar. Because of the domination of the early Christian Church during this period, sacred music was the most prevalent. Beginning with Gregorian Chant, church music slowly developed into a polyphonic music called organum performed at Notre Dame in Paris by the twelfth century. Primitive cave drawings, stories from the Bible, and Egyptian heiroglyphs all illustrate the fact that people had created instruments and had been making music for centuries. The word music derives from the ancient Greek muses, the nine goddesses of art and science. The first study of music as an art form dates from around B. In so doing, Pythagoras and others established the Greek modes: With the slow developmen of European society from the dark ages between the fall of the Roman empire and the rise of the Christian Church, dozens of "mini-kingdoms" were established all over Europe, each presided over by a lord who had fought for and won the land. Mostly through superstitious fear, the early Church was able to claim absolute power over these feudal lords. The Church was able to dictate the progress of arts and letters according to its own structures and employed all the scribes, musicians and artists. At this time, western music was almost the sole property of the Christian Church. Like all music in the Western world up to this time, Christian plainchant was monophonic: The melodies are free and seem to wander, dictated by the Latin liturgical texts to which they are set. As these chants spread throughout Europe, they were embellished and developed along many different lines in various regions. It was believed that Pope Gregory I reigned codified them during the sixth-century, establishing uniform usage throughout the Western Church. Although his actual contribution to this large body of music remains unknown, his name has been applied to this music, and it is known as Gregorian Chant. Gregorian chant remains among the most spiritually moving and profound music in western culture. An idea of its pure, floating melody can be heard in the Easter hymn, Victimae paschali laudes sound clip Many years later, composers of Renaissance polyphony very often used plainchant melodies as the basis for their sacred works. The resulting hollow-sounding music was called organum and very slowly developed over the next hundred years. By the eleventh century, one, two and much later, even three added melodic lines were no longer moving in parallel motion, but contrary to each other, sometimes even crossing. The original chant melody was then sung very slowly on long held notes called the tenor voice and the added melodies wove about and embellished the resulting drone. This music thrived at the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, and much later became known as the Ars Antiqua, or the "old art. This music was slowly replaced by the smoother contours of the polyphonic music of the fourteenth century, which became known as the Ars Nova.. This music was not bound by the traditions of the Church, nor was it even written down for the first time until sometime after the tenth century. For this reason it often presents many challanges in study of early secular music. The monophonic melodies of these musicians, to which may have been added improvised accompaniments, were often rhythmically lively. The subject of the majority of these songs is love, in all its manifestations of joy and pain. Adam is the composer of one of the oldest secular music theater pieces known in the West, Le Jeu de Robin et Marion. He has also been identified as the writer of a good many songs and verses, some of which take the form of the motet, a piece in which two or more different verses are fit together simultaneously, without regard to what we now consider conventional harmonies. Such a piece is De ma dame vient! Guillaume de Machaut and the Ars Nova Born: Champagne region of France, ca. Sometime before this, Machaut had settled in Rheims where he remained until his death, serving as cantor in the cathedral there. His services as a composer were sought out by important patrons, including the future Charles V of France. His poetry was known throughout Europe and his admirers included Geoffrey Chaucer. Machaut is probably best remembered for being the first composer to create a polyphonic setting of the Ordinary of the Catholic Mass the Ordinary are those parts of the liturgy that do not change, including the Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, and Agnus Dei. This new polyphonic style caught on with composers and paved the way for the exciting development of choral music in the Renaissance. Although today the Mass is probably his best-known work, Machaut also composed dozens of secular love Page 9

10 songs, also in the style of the polyphonic Ars Nova or "new art. The secular motets of the Middle Ages eventually evolved into the great quanity and outpouring of the music of the great Renaissance Madrigalists. Page 10

11 Chapter 6 : Western music (North America) - Wikipedia Western music is a form of country and hillbilly music composed by and about the people who settled and worked throughout the Western United States and Western blog.quintoapp.comn music celebrates the life of the cowboy on the open ranges, Rocky Mountains, and prairies of Western North America. Bring fact-checked results to the top of your browser search. Predominant musical traits It is apparent that by the 8th century the documented history of Japanese music had begun. Although that predates an equal state of Western music history by some years, certain interesting parallels between the two traditions can be made. Both seem more clearly established in the same general year period, a short time when compared with Chinese music studies. Both developed a musical nomenclature heavily influenced by the music of religious organizations: Both traditions were equally influenced by the theories of a foreign culture from over the nearest sea: Greece for Italy and China for Japan. Herein many differences arise, one of the most significant being that, in the Japanese case, the foreign tradition of China at the time of its first major influence was alive and strong and could apply practical musical information and instrumentations as well as theories, whereas the Greek tradition was long dead by the same period, when European monks turned to it for guidance. Nevertheless, one can see that the general length and beginning of each history are comparable. Before discussing Japanese music in chronological detail, one should make an attempt to envision general characteristics, realizing that in doing so the tendency is to apply aphorisms to music that stretches over a series of styles as old and varied as the music of Europe from Gregorian chant through Claude Debussy. Keeping in mind that caveat, one can put forth general guidelines for the appreciation of Japanese traditional music. Aesthetic and formal ideals The guidelines fall under three general concepts: Sound ideals In general one can say that the most common sound ideal of Japanese music is to produce the maximum effect with a minimum amount of material. For example, the taiko drum of the Noh drama consists of a barrel-shaped body over which are lashed two cowhide heads some 20 inches 50 cm in diameter stretched over iron rings. Wooden sticks are used to hit one head. Obviously, the sound potentials of the drum are many, but they are deliberately suppressed. For example, the sticks are made of very soft wood, and the strokes are applied only to a small circle of soft deerskin in the centre of the head. The taiko, like Japanese ink paintings, accomplishes a great deal by concentrating on very carefully chosen limitations of the medium. Another feature of much Japanese traditional music could be called the chamber music sound ideal. No matter how large an ensemble may be, one finds that the various instruments are set in such a way that the timbre, or tone colour, of each can be heard. That can be understood in relation to Western chamber music and contrasts with the Western orchestral sound ideal, in which the primary intention is to merge all the instrumental sounds into one glorious colour. The colour separation of Japanese music is quite evident in the large court ensemble gagaku as well as in drama music and actual chamber ensembles such as the sankyoku, for koto zither, samisen plucked lute, and the end-blown shakuhachi flute. Such textures support the strong multilinear as opposed to harmonic orientation of East Asian music. Structural ideals The structural intents of Japanese music are as varied as those of the West, but one of special interest is the frequent application of a three-part division of a melody, a section of a piece, or an entire composition. This is in contrast to the more typical two-part division of Western music. Of course, examples of both ideals can be found in the music of both cultures; the concern here is with broad generalities. A Western musician might wish to compare this with sonata form and its three parts exposition, development, recapitulation. But the Western example relates to a complete event and involves the development of certain motives or melodic units such as first and second themes, whereas the Japanese concept may be applied to various segments or complete pieces that are generally through-composed i. Japanese music reveals its logic and its forward motion not by themes but by a movement from one section to a different one until the final section has been reached. Forward motion in motive Western music was often derived during the classical periods from the tension created by chord progressions. In Japanese music such sonic events generally are not used. Nevertheless, the need for aurally recognizable patterns falling into a progression that the informed listener can anticipate is necessary in all music. In Japan such stereotyped Page 11

12 patterns are melodic or rhythmic, not harmonic; they will be discussed in detail later. The recognition, whether intellectual or aural, of the existence of such recurring patterns is essential to the appreciation of any music. Artistic ideals One of the artistic ideals of Japanese music is equally clear in all of East Asia. It is the tendency for much of the music to be word-oriented, either through actual sung text or through pictorial titles of instrumental pieces. With the exception of variation pieces danmono for the Japanese koto, one can seldom find a purely instrumental piece in the spirit of, for example, the Western sonata or symphony. Japanese ensemble pieces, like those of China and Korea, are either dance pieces, instrumental versions of songs, or descriptive. That ideal in all of East Asia was not weakened until the late 19th century, when such music was forced to compete with Western idioms. Guilds By the same token, the ideal of the composer as genius, so dear to Western hearts since the 19th century, had little place in earlier Japanese music. In Japan, as in China and Korea, the names of many composers are known, but the actual setting of their music was and still is often done by a group of fairly anonymous people. The process might best be called communal composition. In East Asia, particularly in Japan, the performer is often the person remembered and noted. Such an ideal is understood in the West by fans of popular music. A given guild will play its version precisely the same way in each performance, for improvisation has practically no role in any of the major genres of all East Asian music. The separation of guild styles can be carried further to one more artistic ideal, which holds that it is not just what one plays on an instrument but how one plays it. For example, in the case of the taiko drum mentioned above, the manner in which players sit, pick up the sticks, strike the drum, and put the sticks away will reveal the name of the guild to which they belong and also can be used to judge their skill in performance. No Japanese instrument is merely played. One could almost say that its performance practice is choreographed. Such distinctions exist in the music of other East Asian cultures as well, although the clues to their understanding have not yet been revealed to outside listeners and viewers. This brief discussion of their existence in Japanese music will serve to enhance the appreciation of at least one Asian tradition as the discussion turns to a chronological study of its many styles. Codification of court music The previously mentioned documents from the Nara period â demonstrate how very active music was in the newly established capital in Nara. As Japan absorbed more and more of the outside world, the music of the court, like that of Tang dynasty China during the same general centuries, received an increasing variety of styles. Music from the Three Kingdoms was sometimes collectively called sankangaku. Under all those terms were found still other Chinese and northern Asian traditions, in addition to music purported to have come from India as early as Although that tradition is now lost, there are extant detailed pictures of the ensemble along with other ancient instruments and a variety of dances in sources such as the 14th-century copy of the 12th-century Shinzeigakuzu scroll. Page 12

13 Chapter 7 : A brief history of Western culture (article) Khan Academy Note: Citations are based on reference standards. However, formatting rules can vary widely between applications and fields of interest or study. The specific requirements or preferences of your reviewing publisher, classroom teacher, institution or organization should be applied. The establishment of Western musical traditions Roots in antiquity Ancient Middle East and Egypt The inhabitants of the Mesopotamian region around the Tigris and Euphrates rivers â the Sumerians, the Babylonians, and the Assyrians â flourished from about to about bce. Their pictures and the few surviving artifacts indicate that they had instruments of every basic type: An undecipherable hymn engraved in stone, dating from about bce, is evidence of a primitive system of musical notation. The Egyptians, entering historical times about years later than the Mesopotamians, enjoyed all of the same types of activities and instruments, as may be deduced from numerous written references to music as well as seen on many artifacts, especially the pictures preserved on pottery utensils. The musical culture of the Hebrew peoples, recorded from about bce and documented primarily in the Hebrew Bible Old Testament, was more directly influential in the West because of its adoption and adaptation into the Christian liturgy. Ancient Greece Of the eastern Mediterranean cultures, it was undoubtedly that of the Greeks that furnished the most direct link with the musical development of western Europe, by way of the Romans, who defeated them but adopted much of Greek culture intact. Entering historical times relatively late, circa bce, the Greeks soon dominated their neighbours and absorbed many elements of earlier cultures, which they modified and combined into an enlightened and sophisticated civilization. The two basic Greek religious cultsâ one devoted to Apollo, the other to Dionysus â became the prototypes for the two aesthetic poles, classical and romantic, that have contended throughout Western cultural history. The Apollonians were characterized by objectivity of expression, simplicity, and clarity, and their favoured instrument was the kithara, a type of lyre. The Dionysians, on the other hand, preferred the reed-blown aulos and were identified by subjectivity, emotional abandon, and sensuality. The prevailing doctrine of ethos, as explained by ancient Greek philosophers such as Plato and Aristotle, was based on the belief that music has a direct effect upon the soul and actions of humankind. As a result, the Greek political and social systems were intertwined with music, which had a primary role in the dramas of Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, and Aristophanes. And the Grecian educational system was focused upon musica and gymnastica, the former referring to all cultural and intellectual studies, as distinguished from those related to physical training. To support its fundamental role in society, an intricate scientific rationale of music evolved, encompassing tuning, instruments, modes melodic formulas based on certain scales, and rhythms. The 6th-century-bce philosopher and mathematician Pythagoras was the first to record the vibratory ratios that established the series of notes still used in Western music. From the total gamut of notes used were derived the various modes bearing the names of Grecian tribesâ Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, etc. The rhythmic system, deriving from poetry, was based on longâ short relationships rather than strongâ weak accentual metre. After Pythagoras, Aristoxenus was the major historian and theoretician of Greek music. Ancient Rome When the musical culture of the eastern Mediterranean was transplanted into the western Mediterranean by the returning Roman legions, it was inevitably modified by local tastes and traditions. In most cases, the resulting practices were more limited than their models. The diatonic seven-note scale, for example, became the standard, displacing the chromatic and enharmonic structures of the Grecian system. Of particular consequence was the new concept of metre as a series of equal durations, with emphasis being determined by accent stress rather than by duration. An inventory of the musical heritage transplanted from the ancient East particularly Greece to Rome reveals the rich treasure inherited: Monophonic liturgical chant With the decline of the Roman Empire, the institution destined to perpetuate and expand the musical heritage of antiquity was the Christian church, but it was not a unified process. Many of the cultural centres of the Western church developed distinctive characteristics while sharing the common heritage of the Hebrew liturgy and Greek culture. In Milan, for example, metrical hymnody, as distinguished from the earlier practice of unmetred psalmody, was cultivated, particularly Page 13