Course Sample for Our Music Throughout History Homeschool Course

Introduction

We are going back in time for thirty-six lessons. We are going to explore different eras and the music that made up that period. We will be studying famous composers and composers you’ve probably never heard of. We are also going to be studying hymn writers and how music in America has changed and developed over time. We will tie it all together and talk about how you can compose your own original musical composition. A list of (possibly) new words will be provided to help you understand the lessons.

SchoolhouseTeachers.com note: Parents should closely monitor children’s use of YouTube and Wikipedia if you navigate away from the videos and articles cited in these lessons. We also recommend viewing the videos on a full screen setting in order to minimize your students’ exposure to potentially offensive ads and inappropriate comments beside or beneath the video.

Lesson 1: Medieval Era (c. AD 500–1400)

Definitions:

• Plainsong –chants used in Western Church liturgies
• Liturgical – used in public worship; customary observances
• Monophonic – with a single melodic line; no additional parts or chords
• Polyphonic – two or more parts, each with its own melody
• Notation – use of symbols to represent musical notes
• Organum – a single sustained line of music working in conjunction with other rapidly moving parts
• Neumatic – two to six notes per syllable
• Melismatic – each syllable has six or more notes connected to it
• Pitch – quality of sound based on vibration that creates it; how high or low a note is
• Rhythm – timing of the notes
• Secular – having no religious basis
• Troubadours – itinerant poet-musicians from southern France
• Trouvères – itinerant poet-musicians from northern France
• Itinerant – traveling from place to place
• Solfège – singing exercise using sol-fa syllables (do, re, mi, fa, sol, la, ti)
• Motet – sacred music that is usually polyphonic and unaccompanied
• Counterpoint – as harmony lines up with the melody, counterpoint is opposite the melody
• Madrigal – secular song comprised of complex polyphony that is unaccompanied

We will begin our discussion with the medieval period, which begins with the fall of the Western Roman Empire in AD 476. The only music that has survived before the 800s is plainsong. This is also called plainchant. The music was mostly liturgical and used in the Western Church, which at that time, was the Catholic Church.) The Catholic Church was the only church until the Reformation in the 1500s.) Chanting of the medieval era was given the name Gregorian chant after Pope Gregory I.

Gregorian chants—typically chanted by monks—were monophonic. There was only one voice (one note, even if there was more than one chanter) and no instrumental accompaniment. The plainchants provided a calm and meditative atmosphere for prayer. Listen to an explanation and example of monophony: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SWmctnwoe50.

As the medieval era progressed, music changed. Beginning in the 800s, the church opted to use Gregorian chant only; the earliest style of polyphony came into existence; and musical notation was reinvented.

Polyphony would become the predominant style of music through to the era of classical music. The earliest style lasted from the 800s to the mid-1200s; it was called organum. This consisted of neumatic chants and melismatic chants—the distinction being 2-6 and six or more, respectively. Here is an example of organum (the video is more than seven minutes long; feel free to stop after one): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SgHzH5iDcGQ.

As polyphony progressed, schools of practice formed. came into existence to teach this style. The St. Martial School was a compositional style that was similar throughout a region of France, followed by the Notre Dame School of Polyphony which lasted until 1250. The Notre Dame School was a group of monks who composed in a similar style and who were supported by the Notre Dame Cathedral. Two of the composers we will learn about were Léonin and Pérotin. An anonymous source called them “the best composers of organum.” Together, they compiled Magnus Liber Organi—the big book of organum.

Though notation had once been used, it fell out of use centuries before medieval times. The notation, however, provided no pitch or rhythm. The image to the right is an example of medieval notation. Before notation, music could not be taught to a large number of people as it had to be learned by ear, and it could not be spread far beyond the area in which it was learned. Think about stories told by native people, before a written language was developed. These old stories were handed down by word of mouth. The only way subsequent generations could retell the stories was by remembering what had been told to them by their ancestors. If they didn’t share them, the stories would cease to exist. Having a way to write music allowed many people, even people far away, to learn it and play it.

Church music was not the only form of music during the medieval era. There was also secular music. French poets called troubadours and trouvères were among the first people to write secular music. The subject of their songs was usually love. They would play their music in castles, taverns, and town squares, wherever the road led. They were also a source of information and news for the towns they visited.

Besides the vocal component of songs, there were instruments. Many of them you will probably recognize by name, though there are some differences between what we know and what they were like centuries ago. Visit https://www.music.iastate.edu/antiqua/instrumt.html to see a list of these instruments. Some of them have a short recording along with their description. The pan flute was very popular during this time, and musicians used many string-like instruments such as the lute. One interesting instrument is the hurdy-gurdy.

There were many composers during this time. They can be divided into “early medieval composers,” “middle medieval composers,” and “late medieval composers.”

To view a full sample of this course, click here.