Overview of
Music History
Adapted by Julie Stephens
Where do you think music came from?
When do you think it was started?
What type (s) of music do you think
were first performed and notated?
Middle Ages / Medieval
450 – 1450
Sacred Music
 Mostly vocal music until 1100
 After 1100, the church allowed instruments to be played.
 The organ was the most popular then.
 Most notated music was sacred


Why? The church had control over learning.
Most composers were anonymous because they were
taught that it was wrong to take credit and brag about
their works. They were taught that God would be
unhappy with them.
Middle Ages / Medieval
450 – 1450
 Secular music – non-religious
 Troubadours traveled the country, singing
their love songs.
 They used drums, bagpipes, harps, and
recorders.
 Why do you think they didn’t notate their
music?
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GgQAE
wLU4js search:Ensemble Gilles Binchois
Answer on your surface
 What
makes Sacred music different from
Secular music?
 Which
was more likely to be notated?
Middle Ages / Medieval
 Gregorian
Chant: The earliest music of the
Middle Ages was sung slowly and without
rhythm or harmony. Everyone sang the
same thing.
 These tunes are also called Gregorian
Chant, which were named after Pope
Gregory I.
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=712QrV
EkaAo&list=RD_MbDqc3x97k
Middle Ages / Medieval
 Polyphony:
Later on other musical lines
were added, creating harmony. This is
also called polyphonic music.
 This is music for more than one voice and
it appeared during the later Medieval
period. This marked the beginning of
harmony.
Continued…
 What
was the earliest music of the Middle
Ages?
 What
kind of music appeared later in the
Middle Ages? What did it have that made
it different?
Ballad
 Ballads
were sung outside of churches
and told stories.
 Topics included love, war, and heroes.
 Every other line rhymes within a verse–
ABAB
 Verse One:
Verse Two:




….. A
….. B
…. A
…. B
….C
….D
….C
….D
Answer on your surface

Answer these questions.
1. In the Medieval Period, where did you go to
learn?
2. What was a popular church instrument near the
end of this period?
3. Who traveled singing love songs?
4. What type of songs are slow, without rhythm or
harmony?
On your Surface
1.
What is the form / rhyme scheme of a
ballad?
1.
What does anonymous mean?
Name___________________________________________________ Period ________
Essential Question of the Lesson: What are the characteristics of music from the Renaissance time period?
Directions: Determine whether each statement is true or false and mark your answer in the column marked Before.
Before After
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1. During the Renaissance, the middle and upper class hired
tutors to educate their children.
2. Polyphonic music is when everyone performs the same
melody and rhythms at the same time.
3. Chordal music is when the harmony and voice parts move
at the same time in chords.
4. A madrigal is a non-religious (secular) song that people
sing and is often a love song.
5. A motet is a non-religious song that people sing.
6. A mass is a religious (sacred) song that people sing.
7. The lute is a popular instrument during the Renaissance.
8. Instrumental music was mostly for singing and dancing
during the Renaissance.
9. Palestrina was the worst composer from the Renaissance.
Renaissance
 Renaissance
means “rebirth”- in this case,
it was a rebirth of Greek and Roman
culture.
 It lasted from 1450-1600.
 The middle and upper classes hired
people to educate their children.
 The printing press was invented and
popularized the music of great composers.
Renaissance Music
Renaissance music is polyphonic –
two or more voices being heard with
different rhythms.
 Near the end of the Renaissance, chordal
music appeared. The voices moved
together in chords.
 Most
 What
does Renaissance mean?
 What
was invented that popularized the
music of great composers?
 What
does it mean for music to be
polyphonic in the Renaissance time
period?
Vocal A Capella Music

Madrigals - These song forms were performed in
groups of four, five, or six singers. A madrigal is
secular music and were usually love songs.
 Motets - a polyphonic work with four or five voice
parts singing one religious Latin text.
 Mass - follows the religious service of the
Catholic Church and is sung in a very specific
order: Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus,
Benedictus, and Agnus Dei. It is performed in
Latin.
Instrumental Music
 There
was a growth in instrumental music,
especially the lute and keyboard. The
most popular instrument of the
Renaissance was the lute.
 Most instrumental music was written for
singing and dancing.
Palestrina’s music
shows pitch and
rhythm.
 He was Italian and
wrote mostly religious
works.
 He is considered one
of the great masters
of Renaissance
music.
 He wrote motets,
madrigals, and
masses.

Renaissance Listening Example
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IIcrgNty
X0U
 Missa Papae Marcelli by Palestrina
1. What does Renaissance mean?
2. When two or more voices are singing different
rhythms, what is that called? Missa Papae
Marcelli was an example of this.
3. Out of madrigals, motets, and masses, which is
NOT religious?
4. What two things was instrumental music used
for in the Renaissance?
5. Who was a great Renaissance composer?
Baroque
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BnjqGh
AlFzs
 Johann Sebastian Bach
Baroque
 1600-1750
 Baroque
refers to highly decorated music
and art.
 Unity – repeating rhythms and melodic
patterns
 Sudden dynamic and tempo changes
 Music was ornamented and improvised.
Baroque Music
 Orchestras
begin to form
 Opera develops
 Was written for and heard only by kings
and nobility and the Church
 Venice, Italy was the center of Baroque
music
 Harpsichord was more popular than the
piano.
 What
two things could drastically change
in music from the Baroque period?
 What
musical group began to form?
 Where
was the center of Baroque music?
Fugue
 The
subject is stated by the first voice.
 The other voices then enter imitating the
same subject, one at a time.
 The voices alternate subject and answer.
What about this?
 What
form of music had a theme or
subject that was repeated by different
voices at different times?
 How
is this different from a round?
Baroque Listening Example
“Fugue in G Minor”
By J. S. Bach
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4WhPUqp
aRp4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLA1YVN
-30M
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ax7kYRA88Q

Answer these questions on your surface. Try to
do this without using your notes if you can. Use
sentences!
1. In the Baroque period, there were extreme
changes in what two musical elements?
2. What musical group began to form during the
Baroque period?
3. What type of vocal music was being
developed during this period?
4. What was the popular keyboard instrument
during the Baroque period?
Pick two time periods that we have done so
far.
Compare and contrast them. You may use
your notes.
Make sure you have at least 2 ways they
are similar and 2 ways that they are
different.


What are at least two differences between a
round and a fugue?
Describe the subject of a fugue.
Classical Activation
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKhH2
hRa-WQ
 Mozart Clip
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tSL5wxgvFY
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CDNEN
gxTJuM
Classical Period
 The
Classical period began around 1750
and lasted until 1830.
 This was when Benjamin Franklin was
discovering electricity.
 The United States was forming at this
time.
Music of the Classical Period
 Music
was simpler to play than Baroque
music.
 Music was written for everyone.
 Common people began attending
concerts.
 Emotions were controlled in the music.
 There were not extremes in tempo,
dynamics, etc. like in the Baroque period.
Some Questions
 Was
the music simpler or more complex in
the Classical time period than the music in
the Baroque time period?
 What
were the emotions in the music like?
Classical Music
A
symphony usually has 3 or 4
movements and uses the entire orchestra.
 Orchestras were small, around 40 people,
at the beginning of this period. They grew
larger near the end.
 Rondo form, ABACA, was commonly
used. It alternates between one main
themes and contrasting themes.
Can you answer this?
 How
many movements did symphonies
normally have?
 Did
the orchestras grow in size or shrink
towards the end of the time period?
 What
form was commonly used in the
Classical time period?
Classical Listening Example
 “Rondo
alla turka”
 By Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=geER3iQ
DO5k
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_PF9itjbfd
I
8th Grade

Answer these questions in your journals. Try to
do this without using your notes if you can. Use
sentences!
1. In the Classical period, music was for whom?
2. In Classical music, were there large contrasts in
tempo and dynamics?
3. What has a few movements and is for an entire
orchestra?
4. What is the type of song with a form that is
ABACA?
Romantic Era
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=enmJ5P
wxD7o
 The
Romantic Era begins with Ludwig von
Beethoven
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sJQ32q
2k8Uo&list=RD8xPuSzvCSQA
Romantic Period
 The
Romantic period began around 1830
and ended around 1900.
 Yes, there was some overlap between the
classical period and romantic period.
 Beethoven bridged the two periods during
his lifetime.
Romantic Music





Program music tells a story or describes
something.
Music is filled with passion and drama.
Composers used music to overwhelm listeners
with emotion, writing sad, sweeping pieces
about love and heartbreak and magical fantasies
about goblins, witches, and swans.
The orchestra is arranged as we know it and
was led by a conductor with a baton.
The most popular instrument was the piano.
Can you answer these?
 Who
bridged the Classical and Romantic
time periods?
 What
is program music?
 What
was the most popular instrument?
Romantic Listening Example
 Finale,
Swan Lake
 By Tchaikovsky
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXJawz
OLS3k
1. Who bridged the gap between Classical
and Romantic music?
2. In the Romantic period, music is filled
with what and what?
3. What is program music?
Modern Music
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ce4TCt
h0gGM&feature=PlayList&p=0C7DE39351
91D7D6&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&i
ndex=1
 John Cage Piano Sonata X for prepared
piano
Modern Period
1900 – Present
Neoclassical

Composer: Aaron Copland
 Uses techniques used in Baroque and
Classical periods
 Opposition to current musical trends

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cr6CnG5dm
vM
Serialism

Composer: Arnold Schoenberg
 Music has no tonal center
 Randomly uses all 12 notes of the scale in a
tone row
 Aleatoric: created by chance.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PT2cIdbR
CNc
Answer these!
 What
type of music used techniques from
the Baroque and Classical time periods?
 What
type of music used all 12 notes of
the scale in a tone row?
Minimalism





Composer: Phillip Glass
Uses small patterns to create
effects
Extended Ostinati
Drones in the background
http://www.youtube.com/watc
h?v=9YRzS9y-8S8
Electronic
 Composer:
Karlheinz Stockhausen
 Uses tape loops
 Found sounds, recorded then modified
with computer.
 Synthesized sounds: original sounds are
artificially created.
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aNt6a5x
FOnE
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ykQFr
What about this?
 What
 What
type of music used tape loops?
type of music used small patterns to
create effects?
Modern Review
A time of musical experimentation
Electronic music becomes a main focus
Atonality – Music without a tonal center
Broken into Currents




1.
2.
3.
4.
Neoclassical
Serialism
Minimalism
Electronic
Modern Music Categorize
Schoenberg’s Pierrot Lunaire, “Nacht”
Stravinsky’s Symphony in Three Movements
or Aaron Copland’s Appalachian Spring
Stockhausen’s Gesang der Jünglinge
(literally "Song of the Youths")
John Adam’s Shaker Loops
1.
2.
3.
4.
Define a tone row.
What repeats small patterns and uses
drones in the background?
Who is a composer of Minimalism
music?
List the types of modern music.
The End
 This
ends our journey through the
different time periods of music history.
 This does not include current musical
styles from across the world, including
popular music of our own country.
 Source
http://www.cdschools.org/Page/3703