Download Reading guide for Isobel Henderson P. 336 Especially in

Reading guide for Isobel Henderson
P. 336
Especially in the context of ancient Greece, the word art has to do with something practical and
productive. When Henderson says that harmonics was an independent science, she doesn't mean
it had nothing to do with music; it's that the theorists who spoke about the mathematics of tuning
didn't say anything about the practice of playing and singing particular pieces. But of course they
studied tuning partly because actual pieces of music appealed to them.
Did ancient Greek music survive and evolve into medieval music?
P. 337
Hellenistic: having to do with ancient Greece after Alexander the Great. The heyday of classic
Athens was the fifth century BC; Alexander ruled near the end of the fourth century.
By Roman times (Hadrian was emperor of Rome from AD 117 to 138), music had become mere
entertainment. Does this view really necessarily mean the loss of tradition? Must popular music
be ephemeral?
P. 338
Did this music have scores? What is the importance of a score?
P. 339
Did the composition include accompaniment?
When did Athens fall? What did its conquerors think of music?
P. 340
What does harmonics mean?
P. 341
What three streams of theoretical thought were found in ancient Greece?
Who is the founder and leading figure of the high mathematical branch of harmonics?
For him, what did the scale give the tuning for: a harp?
P. 342
The Harmonists were disturbed that mathematics could not give the exact division of the 9:8 tone.
So rather than using mathematics to start with, they tried to find the smallest possible interval
how?
P. 343
Aristoxenus is the champion of the third branch, what Henderson calls the inductive branch.
According to Aristoxenus, which intervals were the only ones that singers tuned accurately?
P. 344
What are disjunct and conjunct tetrachords called?
The movable inner notes of each tetrachord produce three different types known as what?
P. 345
How many tetrachords make up the Greater Perfect System?
What is the lowest note called?
P. 346
Are the pitches of these systems absolute or relative? (“Absolute pitch” means that a given pitch
name corresponds to a certain frequency, that A on a flute made on one town should sound like A
on another flute made in another town. “Relative pitch” means that A is defined only relation to
other pitches of the scale and can be higher or lower depending on who’s singing.
P. 347
For Aristoxenus, a genos (pl. genera) or tropos is more than just a scale. What else is included in
his idea?
Tonos (pl. tonoi) are double-octave scales, in all three genera. This part is confusing, to modern
theorists as well as to students of the history of theory! So don’t worry if this part has your mind
reeling. We’ll go over Henderson’s view in class.
Henderson disagrees with modern theorists who think the tonoi are “pitch keys.” What does that
mean? In our modern view of modes, Phrygian differs from Dorian not only in scale pattern
(octave species), but also because it starts on a higher pitch. Everyone agrees that the Greek
tonoi had different octave species, but did they also start on different pitches? In other words,
were some higher than others? If so, they could be called “pitch keys.”
P. 349
Eidos = octave species = a particular pattern of tones and semitones that make up an octave.
Ethos = musical character.
P. 350
What is Henderson’s basic argument for saying that in ancient Greece, pitch was all relative?
P. 352
“The tonoi transpose the scale-form of the Perfect System . . . .” Again, we’ll go over this
strange idea in class.
P. 354
How many octave species exist?