Music Appreciation Secular Music
🎯 Things You Need to Memorize
Definitions
1. What is sacred music?
Answer: Music connected to worship, religious rituals, prayer, or spiritual practice.
2. What is secular music?
Answer: Music created primarily for non-religious settings, such as entertainment, dancing, theater, work, celebrations, protest, or personal expression.
3. What is a madrigal?
Answer: A secular vocal piece that sets poetry to music, often about love, nature, humor, or drama.
4. What is word painting?
Answer: Musical details that reflect the meaning of the text.
5. What is opera?
Answer: A combination of music, drama, scenery, costumes, and storytelling.
6. What is patronage?
Answer: Financial support from wealthy patrons or institutions that composers depended on to create and perform music.
🏰 Medieval
7. Who were the troubadours/trouvères?
Answer: Musicians who wrote and performed secular songs during the Medieval period.
8. What did they write about?
Answer: Love, politics, travel, humor, and chivalry.
9. What did Medieval secular music sound like?
Answer: It commonly featured monophonic melodies, rhythmic dance patterns, and instruments such as the lute, vielle, and percussion.
🎭 Renaissance
10. What is a madrigal?
Answer: A secular vocal piece that sets poetry to music, often about love, nature, humor, or drama.
11. What is word painting?
Answer: When musical details reflect the meaning of the words/text.
12. How did printing affect music?
Answer: Printing helped music circulate more widely, allowing more people to access and learn music.
🎼 Baroque
13. What is opera?
Answer: A form of music that combines music, drama, scenery, costumes, and storytelling.
14. Why did instrumental music become more important?
Answer: Secular music expanded through courts, opera houses, theaters, and public concerts, increasing opportunities for instrumental music. Important forms included the concerto, suite, sonata, and dance music.
15. What role did wealthy patrons play?
Answer: Composers often depended on wealthy patrons or institutions for financial support. Patronage could influence what music was created, performed, and promoted.
🎻 Classical
16. What were the major secular genres?
Answer: Symphonies, string quartets, piano music, and comic opera.
17. Who were the three most popular/major composers?
Answer: Joseph Haydn, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and Ludwig van Beethoven.
18. What were some characteristics of Classical music?
Answer: Balance, clear phrases, contrast, and recognizable forms.
❤ Romantic
19. What subjects/emotions did composers explore?
Answer: Emotion, imagination, nationalism, storytelling, and personal expression.
20. What did composers expand in their compositions?
Answer: They explored expanded harmony, larger ensembles, richer tone colors, and dramatic contrasts.
21. What were the major types of Romantic secular music?
Answer: Art songs, character pieces, symphonic poems, opera, and nationalist styles.
📻 20th & 21st Centuries
22. What did recording change?
Answer: Recorded sound made music repeatable, portable, and commercially scalable. The performance itself could become a product.
23. How did radio/film/TV affect music?
Answer: They created new audiences, new musical jobs, and new forms of musical fame. They helped music reach mass audiences.
24. Name several genres that became part of popular culture.
Answer: Jazz, blues, country, folk, rock, electronic music, and hip-hop.
25. What did streaming and social media change?
Answer: They allowed instant distribution, global audiences, and algorithmic discovery.