Unit 1: MEDIEVAL MUSIC, MODERN MUSIC IN THE 1950 s and SPANISH FOLK MUSIC 1. MEDIEVAL MUSIC 1.1. INTRODUCTION : HISTORY AND SOCIETY IN THE MIDDLE AGES The middle Ages was the period from the 5 th century (Fall of the Roman Empire) to the 15 th century (Christopher Columbus discovery of America). The Christian religion was official in Europe The society was divided into four groups: The Church, the kings and lords, the warriors and the ones who worked the land. The economic system was Feudalism: a lord had vassal who fought for him and peasants who worked on the land for him. All the knowledge was kept by the Church. The books were hand written and kept at the monasteries. Islam appeared in the 7 th century and spread over the Middle East, North Africa and Spain. There were several crusades (religious wars to get Jerusalem for the Christian Church). 1.2. MONOPHONIC MEDIEVAL MUSIC SACRED VOCAL MUSIC: GREGORIAN CHANT (or plainchant) The subject is religious. It is a prayer The song is a capella : only voice with no instruments All the voices sing the same melody. So, the texture is monophonic (or monodic) The language is Latin The rhythm is free (without a time signature) and it flows with the text The authors are anonymous. Pope Gregory I was their first compiler. It was sung in monasteries or cathedrals SECULAR MUSIC: TROUBADOURS and MINSTRELS It was developed mainly in France with troubadours and minstrels in the 12 th and 13 th centuries. The subjects of their songs were love, war, etc. The song is accompanied with instruments The singer sings alone, so the texture is monodic The language is vernacular (language of every area, not in Latin) The rhythm is usually marked, but it could be free. The authors are known: Ventadour, king Alfonso X the Wise, Martín Codax It was sung in castles or outside
1.3. MUSICAL NOTATION AND EARLY POLYPHONY Musical notation is the system we use to represent music in a paper. It began in the 8 th century to fix and keep all the Gregorian chant repertoire. Evolution of the musical notation: neumes, dots (with or without lines) and square notation (dots became rectangles son that the durations could be indicated). Early polyphony began around the 11 th century to embellish the Gregorian chant. In the 12 th century, Guido d Arezzo used syllables to call the notes of the scale: ut (later do)-re-mi-fa-sol-la. 1.4. MEDIEVAL INSTRUMENTS Only a few original medieval instruments have been preserved, but we can know what they were thanks to pictures, literature and sculptures at the cathedrals. There were many instruments and even different names for similar instruments. They were used to accompany songs and play dances. EXERCISE: Label the images below with the names of the instruments: 1. Gabpipe: woodwind instrument with double reed and a bag that contains a constant reservoir of air 2. Shawn: double reed wind instrument, like the current oboe. 3. Lute: plucked string instrument with a pear-shaped body and a bent-back pegbox (clavijero) 4. Harp: in the Middle Ages is smaller than nowadays. 5. Darbuka: a membranophone instrument that comes from Arab culture. 6. Hardy-gurdy (zanfoña): a big bowed string instrument with a wheel that rubs against the strings. 7. Psaltery: plucked string instrument. Strings can be also played with mallets. It varies in shapes (triangular, square, trapezoidal ) 8. Rabab: instrument with 3 bowed strings and pear shape. 9. Fiddle: instrument with 3 or 5 bowed strings with an 8 shape. 10. Flute: in the Middle Ages it was made of wood.
2. MODERN MUSIC IN THE 1950 s 2.1. INTRODUCTION Most of the blacks brought as slaves to the New World were shipped to the Caribbean area; from here many were would to the United States. They worked in large plantations and they sang white hymns in church and, inevitable, they heard the western music (country music, European dances, military marchs ) Black and creole* people melded* Western and African music to produce Afro-American new styles: Gospel (church spirituals ), Blues, Ragtime and Jazz. 2.2. BLUES The blues is a style developed in the nearby of the Mississippi river by the slave black men at the end of the 18 th In the first decades of the 20th century the most common current structure became standard: the so-called AAB pattern, consisting of a structure of 12 bars (in 4/4) with chord progressions. It is based on a slow riff* (a rhythmical and melodic pattern that repeats continuously during the song) The blues is a type of melancholic song. The lyrics are about a lost love, the cruelty of police officers, oppression at the hands of white folk and hard times. A song liked to a task with a call and response structure WORK SONGS + SPIRITUALS + BLUES + MARCHS + RAGTIMES = JAZZ Formed by wind (cornets, trombones, horns, tuba and clarinets) and percussion (snare drum and bass drum) instruments. At the beginning marching bands were designed for marching but later they played A musical composition for piano in which a syncopated melody is played with the right hand and a rhythmical steady bass is played in the left hand. Scott Joplin is considered the ragtime master. 2.3. JAZZ Jazz was born in the early 20 th century in New Orleans and it spread all over the country. Jazz was bon among the African American community and incorporated many elements from European music. Jazz has one fundamental feature: improvisation*! In a jazz band, wind instruments use to play the melody while strings (bass, banjo, piano, guitar ) and drums use to play the rhythmic section. EVOLUTION OF JAZZ 1910-20 s New Orleans (Dixieland) Louis Armstrong 1930 s Swing Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Glenn Miller 1940 s Bepop Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis, Charles Mingus, Max Roach 1950 s Cool jazz / Hard Bop Dave Brubeck, Paul Desmond / Miles Davis, Cannoball Adderley 1960 s Free jazz Ornette Colemann 1970 s Jazz Fusion Michel Camilo, Tito Puente, Chic Corea
2.4. ROCK AND ROLL RHYTHM and BLUES + COUNTRY = ROCK and ROLL R&B was an African- American urban sound that evolved from blues and jazz with a heavy and insistent beat. The lyrics of R&B were about every life, mainly work and sex. Country music is an American folk style originated in the rural regions of the Southern USA in the 1920 s. It consists of ballads and dance melodies accompanied by string instruments (banjos, acoustic guitars, harmonicas, steel guitars and fiddles (violins) The increased migration of blacks and whites in the 1930 s (Depression), created new cultural and racial mixings. The post-war industrial boom also encouraged emigration from the South of USA. In 1950s most of teenagers no had to go to work. They had a few responsibilities. Parents were horrified, but the teenagers were more opened-minded and rebellious than previous generations. 3. SPANISH FOLK MUSIC 3.1. SPANISH FOLK SONGS Spanish folklore is extremely rich and prolific. This is due, among other things, to the melting pot of cultures that the Iberian Peninsula has absorbed. The music of Spain is as diverse as the country s many regions. In all European countries each region has its own nuances, but in the case of Spain, different regions have not only different characteristics but also completely different styles. The most common form of the Spanish folk music is the song. There are a lot of kinds of Spanish folk songs. In order to facilitate their classifications, we group them in cycles. a) Stages of a person s life: songs from childhood, of youth, maturity, old age b) Seasons: Christmas songs, carnival songs, sanjuanadas, canciones de mayo c) Sacred songs: rosarios, saetas d) Autonomous communities: cantigas in Galicia e) Flamenco (see the last part of the unit)
3.2. TRADITIONAL SPANISH INSTRUMENTS There are many traditional instruments in Spain. Some of them can be found in many regions and others come from a specific region. These are the main Spanish folk instruments: guitar, arrabel o huesera, tambourine (pandereta), bandurria, castanets (palillos in Andalusian), sonajero, dulzaina, txalaparta, botella labrada, pans (sartenes), almirez o mortero, trikitixa, square drum, zambomba, bagpipe (gaita), flabiol/txistu, barrel organ (organillo), siurell, chicotén, cántaro Exercise:. Name Family Region Name Family Region 1 11 2 12 3 13 4 14 5 15 6 16 7 17 8 18 9 19 10 20
3.3. TRADITIONAL SPANISH DANCES The jota and the seguidilla can be found in most of the country. We can also find specific dances from each region: Chotis Pasodoble: it is a dance and music based on the Spanish bullfight ; the music is a kind of march scored in 2/4 and the dance is based on the way matadors perform in the ring 3.4. FLAMENCO A special type Spanish folklore is flamenco. Dated from the 18th century, flamenco is an artistic style from Andalusia, even though it is also cultivated in other regions of Spain (Extremadura, Murcia ) Flamenco is often associated with the Romani people of Spain (gypsies) Different flamenco styles are called palos (bulerías, alegrías, fandangos, tangos, sevillanas, rumbas soleá, seguiriya.) A typical flamenco performance includes cante (flamenco singing), toque (guitar playing) and dance. a) Cante (flamenco singing): it is characterized by a melismatic rhythm (several notes for only one syllable). The most important elements of flamenco singing are: The voice: the singer s voice is untrained and has a harsh, nasal tone. The singer sings with intervals smaller than the semitone (microtonality) Quejío (consisting of the introduction of the word Ay! in the middle of the song) Jaleo: shouts of encouragement (Ole, venga ) Farfulleo: fast stuttering without a specific meaning but very expressive (lerelelé) Son: When clapping. People clapping are called palmeros b) El toque: is the virtuosic accompaniment of the guitar c) The dance: not all flamenco songs are danced. Flamenco dancing can be individual, in pairs or for a group of dancers