The Middle Ages- Chapter 6

 

Medieval Music Overview

Step 1

Step 2

A.  Middle Ages Part 1

B.  Middle Ages Part 2

C.  Middle Ages Part 3

Guido, Hildegard and Friends

Step 1

• Use the resources below as well as those of your own choosing to answer the following questions:

     

1. Provide approximate dates for the Middle Ages punctuated with notable world/historical events.

The Medieval Period began in the 5th century and ended sometime in the 15th century. The fall of the Western Roman Empire was a highlighted point at which the Middle Ages was started. It goes all the way into the Renaissance and the Age of Discovery, about 1,000 years later. 

     

2. Describe various characteristics that distinguish sacred music from secular music during the Middle Ages.

The main difference between sacred and secular music was the purpose: sacred was for ceremonious religious settings and secular music was intended for entertainment and performance. Sacred: religious, church, no instruments, plainsong in free time, sung by a single voice or a unison choir. Secular: non-religious, entertainment purposes, instrumental accompaniment. Secular text was normally in vernacular, with many marconics interwoven, while sacred music was always in latin, the language that everyone prayed in. 

 

1. Describe the 5 parts of the Ordinary of the Mass(latin names for each section and their basic translations).

   The Kyrie means ‘The Lord,’ Gloria means ‘Glory,’ Credo means ‘Belief,’ Sanctus means ‘Holy,’ and Agnus Die means ‘The Lamb of God.’ 

    

2. Distinguish between syllabic, neumatic and melismatic chant style.

   A syllabic chant style generally means that there is a single note per text syllable. A neumatic chant style means that there are short melismas—that generally hang on for two notes, all the way to a few measures— on each syllable, and a melismatic chant means that there are multiple melismas per syllable. 

    

3. Provide a few nuggets of trivia regarding the history of Guido D'Arezzo

   Guido D’Arezzo was an Italian music theorist from the Medieval era. He noticed that singers had problems remembering their music (Honors Chorus, anyone?) and came up with a system that taught the singers their music in a short period of time. He developed staff notation and the world-known ‘DO RE ME FA SO LA TI DO.’ He created the Guidonian hand (gasp!) and there are several things named after him, including computer music notation systems, and contests. 

    

4. Provide a few nuggets of trivia regarding the Guidonian Hand 

   The Guidonian hand is a mnemonic device that’s used for sight-singing. It was made by our famous Guido D’Arezzo, and revolves around the concept of using the joints of the hand to help in teaching a hexachord (another mnemonic device that dictates that six pitches are all whole tones apart, save the middle tone, which are separated by a semitone). Guido used syllables from the hymn Ut Queant Laxus, and made the hexachord out of it, following the hymn as: ut, re, mi, fa, sol, and la. 

    

5. Explain the various features of this Cool Resource

   This is an AMAZING resource that is based on learning the guidonian hand technique, and allows a user to click on an assortment of notes and see its correlation on the hand chart. 
   

    

6. Describe your observations regarding the use of this Guidonian Hand Demonstration. 

   This guidonian hand demonstration was a way for early music learners to quickly grasp the notes of a song without having something written down in front of them They would sing a chant and identify a note with a particular joint or a spot on their hand. They learnt this really quickly, and later had the method moved to be written as music on a staff. 
   

 

Step 2

• To what extent does pitch vary throughout this Gregorian Chant?

  The pitch doesn’t move around much throughout the arrangement. The pitches usually don’t go very high or very low, and there do seem to be a lot of melismas. 

 

Step 3

• Describe similarities and differences between the Gregorian Chant above and the music of Hildegard. There is so much more pitch variation in the Hildegard than the Gregorian Chant. The Hildegard has a more wholesome sound to it, with a basis in a major mode, rather than the repetitive & eerie Gregorian chant. The Hildegard also has an accompaniment of instruments: a flute, and a stringed instrument. The voices in the background make a very compelling homophonic feel. 

 

Step 4

• How do changes in pitch reflect changes in mood in this organum by Leoninus. 

  There are changes in melody and pitch, from a major and minor, with a background humdrum that gives different feelings. The major and minor interval progressions could represent a change from a happy mood to a more sombre one.  

   

Step 5

• Describe musical elements in terms of what is represented and what is not in this example by Guillaume de Machaut

(Musical Elements; Pitch, Rhythm, Dynamics, Tempo, Texture, Timbre, Form, Purpose, Harmony, Melody, Expression, Mood, Language, Style, etc.) 

This song is polyphonic, with a most melodic voice being accompanied by instruments. There is some string instrument and multiple wind instruments. This has a very uplifting feel to it, with a rather upbeat tempo and rhythm. The song is in a major key, which helps give it its lovely lilt. There are no harmonies, save from the instruments, and there are a lot of melismas occurring. 

 

• Bonus Video:  Orlando Consort describes Guillaume Machaut as the "James Taylor" of his day.

 What beautiful harmonies! 

 

In Search of Summer and The Holy Grail

Step 1

• Provide a brief description of this Neume Notation; observations, patterns, etc. The chant chart shows you the different forms of notation, all the way from the 9th and 10th centuries, to how they developed into the 11th and 13th centuries, and how they evolved into the notation of the present day. If we look at the earliest times on the chart, the 9th & 10th centuries have squiggly lines and scribbles to mark out different types of notes. It's only when you get to the 11th-13th centuries that we begin seeing quadrilateral shapes in place of lines and dots. 

• Describe differences between Medieval Notation Neumes & Modern Notation Notes in terms of shapes, lines and colors. In the medieval version of "sumer is icumen in," we see that there are square shapes representing notes. The bar lines and staffs are red, with red writing underneath the words. There are no measure bars or any indications of a meter. Everything seems to be kept in tempo by phrasing of the words. The key signature is on a different place on the staff (which has six bar lines!). The version that was transcribed in modern notation is much clearer about everything; you can see that the meter is in 12/8 and it's in the key of F major/D flat minor. 

• Demonstrate 3 Chant Styles using the template found in this Neume Project. Done :) 

 

Step 2

• Provide a brief narrative on Sumer is a Cumin In; history, trivia, manuscript, significance, text, etc. This is a very, very ancient song (about 800 years old). It's assumed that it was written in Oxford in 1260. There is debate among scholars on the meaning of the English lyrics- either a translation for the spring to come, or something about committing adultery. There is something you don't see in music nowadays: "the goat farts." 

   

  Middle English lyrics

  Sumer is icumen in,
  Lhude sing cuccu!
  Groweþ sed and bloweþ med
  And springþ þe wde nu,
  Sing cuccu!
  Awe bleteþ after lomb,
  Lhouþ after calue cu.
  Bulluc sterteþ, bucke uerteþ,
  Murie sing cuccu!
  Cuccu, cuccu, wel singes þu cuccu;
  Ne swik þu nauer nu.
  Pes:
  Sing cuccu nu. Sing cuccu.
  Sing cuccu. Sing cuccu nu!

  English translation

   

  Summer has come in,
  Loudly sing, cuckoo!
  The seed grows and the meadow blooms
  And the wood springs anew,
  Sing, cuckoo!
  The ewe bleats after the lamb
  The cow lows after the calf.
  The bullock stirs, the goat farts,
  Merrily sing, Cuckoo!
  Cuckoo, cuckoo, well you sing, cuckoo;
  Don't ever you stop now,
  Ground (sung by two lowest voices)
  Sing cuckoo now. Sing, Cuckoo.
  Sing Cuckoo. Sing cuckoo now!

   

   

   

   

 

Step 3

• Use this scene from Monty Python and the Holy Grail to answer the following questions

1. Is this an example of a sacred Gregorian Chant or a secular Estampie? A sacred Gregorian Chant. 

2. What is the language of this text? It's in latin, just like so many ancient music texts. 

3. Is the texture monophonic, heterophonic, homophonic or polyphonic? It has a monophonic texture. 

4. Bonus trivia; Describe the Church Mode and use of Organum. A Church mode (also known as a Gregorian mode) was one of the eight systems of pitch organization in gregorian chants, probably ancient Christian vocal congregations. The organum is one of the earliest forms of introduced polyphony. 

 

 

 

Current Events

Step 1

• Use this Leuven Chansonnier resource(reading, video & image tour) to check out a NEWLY DISCOVERED 15th Century Songbook. OOOH! AHHH!

• Sang through one of these at a lecture held at the Amherst Early Music Festival 2017, heard for the first time in 600 years! Pretty! 

 

 

 

HONORS TRACK

 

Enjoy!