Middle Ages

Dates:
1. What was going historically during this era? What was life like? Yet, the
period was rich in art and in music, despite the difficult social and economic
circumstances that prevailed through much of that time. Their music sound
very different from western art music of later periods, people, after all, do not
change a great deal in five hundred or even fifteen hundred years. There was
much unrest and rest and people longed for the rest of eternal life.
2. Who or what had the power? The church had the most power in the middle
ages because it was the one thing that united people.
3. Who were learned or literate? Womens
4. Who were allowed to sing in church? The nuns were allowed to sing in
church, womens were to be seen but not heard.
5. Most of the music that was notated during the Middle Ages was sacred or
secular? Both of the music was sacred and secular but only secular was most
notated that exist during the middle ages.
6. Was most medieval music vocal? Most serious music in the Middle Ages,
both sacred and secular, was vocal, involving words as an important element.
7. What is Gregorian chant? Discuss its origin, texture, melody, rhythm,
text. How did it receive its name? What is its purpose? Gregorian chant is
music which portions of the Roman Catholic service are sung by
unaccompanied voices singing in unison. Its origin was of the new tradition
and the Gregorian repertory was systematized for use in the Roman Rite. The
rhythm, like the rhythm of speech is free and flexible. The text of chant may be
treated in a syllabic manner, with one note of music corresponding to each
syllable of text. The melodies of chant was based upon the medieval modes,
are commonly sung a cappella and in unison by men and boys, or by women in
female religious institutions such as convents. Chant received his name by the
man name Pope Gregory I.
8. When chant was notated, was the rhythm notated or just the melody?
9. What are church modes? The church mode was based on modal scales or
modes which are different from major and minor scale patterns.
10. What is the Mass? The mass is the Roman Catholic worship service.
11. What is the Proper of the Mass? The Proper of the Mass changes with the
different seasons of the church year.
12. What is the Ordinary of the Mass? The Ordinary of the Mass are the
sections that stay the same throughout the year.
13. Who is Hildegard of Bignen? Hildegard of Bignen was a woman who was
known as a composer of sacred chant. She was a respected diplomatist in
religious and political situations and an active correspondent with popes and
kings.
14. When did composers begin to write polyphonic pieces? What was this
early polyphony like?
15. What is a canon? A canon is a Polyphonic composition in which all the
voices perform the same melody, beginning at different times.

16. What is a drone? A drone is and Sustained tone.

17. What is an ostinato? An ostinato is persistently repeated melodic or
rhythmic pattern.
18. What is the liturgy? A liturgy is Words of the Mass.
19. Who is Guillaume de Machaut? He was the most notable as Ars Nova
French poet/composer and a Double career as a cleric and courtier.
20. What city became the musical center of Europe during the mid to late
middle Ages? What was the musical center of this city and who worked there?
21. Composers began to write polyphonic songs that were not always based
on chant, what were they based on instead?
22. By the 14th century a new system of music notation had evolved. It
allowed a composer to specify almost any rhythmic pattern. Were beats now
divided into two or three parts or both? Was syncopation used?

Renaissance
Dates:
1. What was going historically during this era? What was life like? The people
of the Renaissance sought to understand the world as it had never been
understood before. Their curiosity led artists to dissect cadavers, explorers to
travel around the world, clerics and laypeople to question the authority of the
church, and Leonardo da Vinci to question nearly everything. Meaning Rebirth
- rebirth of philosophies of Greece and Rome; transition from religious to
secular.
2. What is humanism? Humanism is a commitment to search for truth and
morality through human means in support of human interest.
3. What effect did the printing press have on music?
4. Was every educated person expected to be trained in music? No
5. Where did musical activity gradually shift to?
6. Were composers content to remain unknown? No
7. Does vocal music continue to be more important than instrumental music?
9. What is word painting? Word painting is Musical illustrations of verbal

concepts.
10. What is the primary texture of most renaissance music?
11. How many different parts are typically found in a renaissance piece? How
does this compare to the music in the middle Ages?
12. What is a cappella? An a cappella is an Unaccompanied group singing.
13. What was the rhythm like in renaissance music? Each melodic line has
great rhythmic independence and moves more with a gentle flow than a
sharply defined beat. Pitch patterns in Renaissance melodies are easy to sing
because the melody usually moves along a scale with few large leaps.
14. What was the melody like in renaissance music? They did not need
instrumental accompaniment and was thus also known as the golden age of
a cappella choral music.
15. What were to the two main types of sacred music? Define each of them?
16. Who was Josquin Deprez? What type of music did he compose? Martin
Luther called him "the master of the notes." He humanized music by raising its
emotional level Renaissance Era.
17. Who was Giovanni Peierluigi da Palestrina? He was known for his
involvement in the anti-reformation, specifically in the council of Trent and
creating music that reflected the Catholic Churchs view on how music should
be written in response to Luther's reformation.
18. What was the counter-reformation and the Council of Trent? The counter
reformation is Catholic response to the Protestant Reformation; it proposed
certain reforms, including some related to church music. The Council of Trent
was a Catholic group who was known and spent nearly twenty years
formulating recommendations for improvements in church procedures.
19. List the three complaints with the sacred music of the day?
20. What is a Lutheran chorale? The Lutheran chorale is the type of hymn, or
congregational song, introduced into the worship service by Martin Luther.
21. What is a psalm tune? The psalm tune is a Tuneful setting of the 150
psalms in versions suitable for congregational singing.
20. What is a madrigal? A madrigal is a secular song introduced in Italy that
became popular in England as well. Polyphonic in texture and expressive in
mood, madrigals are written in the vernacular.
21. Who was Thomas Weelkes? He was a famous madrigal As Vesta Was from
Latmos Hill Descending exemplifies all of these qualities, which made the
English madrigal especially appealing to English-speaking audiences.
22. How were instruments categorized in the Renaissance?
23. Explain how dances are performed together?