Noah Hart - Goodalls 1

History of Music

The study of how music has developed over time and its importance in understanding the evolution of civilization.

Chauvet Caves

Caves in Southern France where paintings were placed in areas of greatest resonance, helping Paleolithic people navigate using their voices.

Ancient Music

Music from ancient societies that cannot be known exactly due to the absence of music notation.

Lures

Special instruments excavated in Denmark, resembling brass instruments, hinting at a sophisticated society.

Greek Education

The compulsory subjects in ancient Greece included Grammar and Geometry.

Unison Chant

A chant sung by monks in unison on the same pitch, without accompaniment, harmony, or discernable rhythm.

Octave

A series of 8 notes between and including 2 notes with double or half the frequency of the other.

Harmony

The simultaneous sounding of more than one note, also known as organum, often added in fifths.

Drone

An instrument or person playing a single note held for a long period of time.

Cassia of Constantinople

The first known female composer who mixed simple but unpredictable harmonies in her music.

Squiggles (Neumes)

Indications used by Anglo-Saxon monks to show whether to go up or down in pitch, but not specific enough for reading music.

Guido of Arezzo

Introduced blobs, a certain shape for notes, placed on lines to give them a specific pitch, revolutionizing music notation.

Perotin's Question

What would happen if more than two voices sang at the same time?

Chord

A cluster of simultaneous notes.

Perotin's Contribution

Found a way to notate rhythm in music.

"Vidernut omnes" by Perotin

A piece created in 1198 with 3 and 4 part harmonies and complex rhythms, revolutionary for its time.

Troubadour

Traveling singer-songwriters who accompanied themselves, freelancers in the 1300s, contributing to the evolution of instruments.

Muslim Spain

Provided the predecessor to modern instruments such as the rhabbab (violin) and al-ud (lute/guitar).

Islamic Culture

Besides instruments, it also provided rhythm to the world.

14th Century Music

Notation, layering of voices, and instruments were already in place.

Harmony Before 1400

Included unison (not interval), octave, perfect 4th, and perfect 5th.

John Dunstaple

Introduced the imperfect third as a new interval after 1400.

Triad

Three notes played together, consisting of a root note, third, and fifth, forming a chord.

16th Century Instruments

Cither, Lute, Viol, Violin, Virginal, and Organ.

Early Carols

Derived from jaunty folk dances.

Polyphony

The layering of many voices.

Printing Press

Invented in 1450 by Gutenberg in Germany.

Josquin Desprez

One of the most impressionistic composers of the Renaissance, focused on bringing out the meaning of lyrics in his music.

Melisma

Long stretches of melody attached to one syllable.

Martin Luther

Started the Reformation in 1517, involving the congregation in their own language in Lutheran churches, influencing music to progress note by note and syllable by syllable.

Post-Reformation

Marked by religious intolerance, state-sponsored terror, penance, remorse, and lamentation in music.

New Wave of Secular Music

Emerged from Italy at the end of the 16th century, with a shift from serious religious music to more joyful and equal amounts of secular music.

Jacques Alcadect

Pioneering figure in folk music following the Reformation.

Chansonts

French equivalent of the madrigal, non-sacred music usually with only voice and sometimes lute.

John Dowland

Celebrated singer-songwriter in Europe, known for his focus on emotions and matching lyrics with music.

Claudio Monteverdi

Most influential in making Opera popular.

Dissonance

Deliberate clashes of a chord, mixing of unrelated chords.

Venice

Important in music due to the cavernous St. Marks Basilica serving as a music laboratory and the city being a hub for music.

Polychoral

Involving many choirs in different places.

L'Orfeo

Opera premiered in 1608, written by Monteverdi, known for its emotional content and stage presentation.

Poppea

Radical opera about real people and their complex emotions shown on stage.