Introductory Video Script Template
Course
Music 8
Lesson
Objective
Semester
A
Unit
1
Lesson
1
The student will be introduced to the Medieval Period, and be able to
identify the major musical forms that occurred within this period.
Visual
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Audio
Western music has a long and fascinating
history. There are many genres of music, and
they share many common traits.
These common traits all exist because music
has been evolving into what it is over many
years from common roots.
Each new composer or performer brings
something new to the music they create and
relies on what was done before them.
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An excellent place to start to learn how modern
music came to be is the Medieval Period. The
roots of our music can be easily traced back to
this period.
The Medieval period in music is often defined
as beginning around the fall of the Roman
Empire in 476 AD, to ending around 1400 AD.
If we could travel back in time to Medieval
Europe, what types of music and instruments
would we encounter?
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We would hear music that might sound very
foreign to our ear, but if we were to listen
closely, we would also hear things that are very
familiar.
In the early part of the period, we would almost
definitely hear chant. Gregorian chant is a
common form of chant and developed in the
Catholic Church.
Gregorian chant is notable for its simple
structure, which is called monophony. It was
comprised of one simple melodic line with no
instruments.
The text was almost always in Latin because
the Catholic Church did all of their masses in
Latin for many years.
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Polyphony:
Music consisting of several
independent melodic voices.
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Later in the period, we will begin to hear
examples of polyphony. Polyphony consists of
multiple melodic lines together in a piece of
music.
The lines often complement each other, but
each moves independently of the other and
often uses contrasting rhythms.
The Motet is a common polyphonic piece of
music, which was usually a choral piece with no
instruments.
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Outside of the church, we would likely
encounter the music of the Troubadours and
Trouvères.
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The Troubadours and Trouvères were most
commonly men and performed their music
professionally in addition to writing and reciting
poetry in public.
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Unlike church music of the time, their music was
written in the local languages and often was
poetry about love or chivalry set to music.
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As we look later in the Medieval period, we’ll
see more and more instruments being used,
especially in secular music.
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Many of these instruments will look familiar to
you, because they are ancestors of many
modern instruments.
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You would see flutes that look much like those
of today, except they would have been made of
wood instead of metal.
Stringed instruments were very common in this
period. The lute, mandore and dulcimer were
used in this time.
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In Spain, the gittern was popular. It is
considered an early ancestor to the modern
guitar.
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There are also some early examples of the
organ and violin that came about during this
time, but did not become popular until later.
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One instrument that you may have played in
elementary school also became quite popular in
this time: the recorder.
This simple woodwind instrument remained very
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popular for several hundred years following the
Medieval Period.
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There are many different forms of medieval
music. We will explore many of them during
this unit and compare them to the music of
today.