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Looked down on the use of music for mere pleasure iii. Hymns: prayers to gods b. Greek thought described the nature of music, its effects and its proper uses c. Plato believed that education should stress gymnastics (to discipline the body) and music (to discipline the mind) I. Urges balance between gymnastics and music it. Only certain types of music are suitable iii. Music should not have complex scales or mixed genres, rhythms, or instruments ‘v. Changes in musical conventions could lead to lawlessness in art and anarchy in society 8.
The Church Fathers on Psalmist and on the Dangers of Unholy Music a. Early church leaders were known as “the church fathers” b. Encouraged music for sacred purposes only c. Prohibited instrumental music ) Instrumental music lacked words and could not convey Christian teachings b) They feared evoking pagan practices, such as spectacles involving dancing c) Playing instruments is idle and unproductive and can lead to licentious behavior d. “Psalm implies serenity of soul; it is the author of peace, which calms bewildering and seething thoughts… Psalm is the work of angels, a heavenly institution, the spiritual incense. ” SST. Basic 9. SST. Augustine: The Testimony of SST. Augustine a. SST. Augustine: leading Church Father a) Feared music’s ability to arouse strong feelings ) In his Confessions, he describes shedding tears at the psalms c) He believed that feeling strongly about the musical performance of psalms was a good thing d) When he was moved more by the song than by what was sung he believed it was SINFUL e) “… I am inclined to approve of the custom of singing in church…
Yet when I find the singing itself more moving than the truth which it conveys, I confess that this is a Shakespeare The Transmission of the Classical Legacy a. Bioethics: most revered authority on music in the Middle Ages a) Wrote De institution musical (Fundamentals of Music) . Defines 3 types of music: a. Musical mundane “Music of the universe”: numerical relations governing the movement of stars, planets, seasons, and the elements b. Musical human “Human music”: unification of body, soul and their parts c.
Musical instrumentalist “Instrumental music”: audible music produced by voices or instruments 2. Music’s power to influence character made it important in educating the young 3. The study of music through reason was a higher pursuit than the performance of music; therefore a philosopher of music was the true musician, not a singer or composer a. Three types of people in musical art: those who perform instruments, those who compose songs and those who Judge the instrumental performances and composed songs. Third type is considered a musician) b. “The mere physical skill serves as a slave, while the reason governs all as sovereign… How much nobler is the study of music as a rational science than as a laborious skill of manufacturing sounds? ” c. “That person is a musician who through careful rational contemplation ass gained the knowledge of making music, not through the slavery of labor, but through the sovereignty of reason… He type which buries itself in instruments is separated from the understanding of musical knowledge… Hey act as slaves, for they use no reason but are totally lacking in thought. ” 11 . Music as a Liberal Art (Schools incendiaries) a. The tritium of the verbal arts: grammar, dialectic, rhetoric b. The quadric of the mathematical disciplines: geometry, arithmetic, astronomy, and harmonics (music) 12. Before Notation (Isadora of Seville) a. Isadora of Seville: “Unless sounds are remembered by man, they perish, for they cannot be written down. ” b. Simple melodies may have been memorized and ample melodies may have been improvised within strict conventions c.
When melodies were written down, formulaic structures remained intact 13. Notre Babuls, Othello: Embellishing the Liturgy a. Babuls: most famous early writer of sequence texts 14. Guide of Orzo, DOD of Clung, Chaucer: Musical Notation and its consequences a. Monk in 11th century b. Developed a system with additional lines; staff notation, evolved to a four line staff c. Wrote a practical guide for singers d. Colonization 15. Music in Courtly Life a. Poetry and music of the noble troubadour were sober and reflective b. Idealization of love c.
Songs of knighthood are found in manuscripts known as chandeliers 16. Emergence of Polyphony 17. The Forms and Practices of Music 18. The First Musical Avian-Garden 20. Letter from Gallinule De Mach (14th century) a. Leading composer of the French Ears Nova c. Resided in Reins to write poetry and music d. First composer to compile his complete works and to discuss his working method I. Paid for the preparation of several illuminated manuscripts of his works it. Wrote poems first, then music iii. Happiest when the music was sweet and pleasing