Download MONDAY, AUGUST 29

MONDAY, AUGUST 29
 Grab
a book today
 Journal
Entry #5:
Discuss one thing you think you
know about the Middle
Ages…anything.
UNIT 2: THE MIDDLE
AGES
450-1450
TIME LINE
 450-1000:
Earliest notated Gregorian
chant manuscripts (c. 900)
– Beowolf (c. 700)
– Reign of Pope
Gregory I (590-604)
– Charlemagne crowned
Holy Roman Emporer
(800)
 1000-1300:
Troubadours and
trouveres (c. 1100-1300)
– Hildegard of Bingen (c. 1150)
– School of Notre Dame (begun c. 1170)
Beginning of Notre
Dame Cathedral
(1163)
Quick math:
How old is Notre
Dame?
848
– Norman Conquest (1066)
– First Christian Crusade (1096-99)
– Magna Carta signed (1215)
 1300-1450:
Guilaume de Machaut –
Notre Dame Mass (c. 1350)
– Dante, The Divine Comedy (1321)
– Chaucer, The Canterbury Tales (13871400)
– Joan of Arc executed by the English
(1431)
THE MIDDLE AGES
 The
“Dark Ages”
– War
– Disease
– Migration
3
Classes
– 1. Clergy
– 2. Nobility
– 3. Peasantry
 Education
– Monks and boys in monestaries
– Most people illiterate – even Nobility

14th c. Europe – Hundred Years War
(1337-1453), “black death” (bubonic
plague) killed ¼ of the population
– During tumult, two rival popes claimed
authority; everyone was scared and confused.
– Literature such as Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales
stressed graphic realism.

Later: Gothic cathedrals built, towns grew,
universities founded = cultural growth
In General…
 Early
 Late
Middle Ages = BAD
Middle Ages – BETTER!
MUSIC IN THE MIDDLE AGES
 Priests
= most important musicians
 Important occupation = liturgical
singing
– Boys vs. girls
 Monestary/Convent
 Vocal,
some instruments
– Church frowned on instruments
 Source
of conflict between composers and
church authorities
– After 1100 – church organ
 Earliest
Organs
– Keys operated by heavy pounding of the
fist
– Literally heard for miles
GREGORIAN CHANT
– Official music of the Roman
Catholic Church for the last 1000
years
– Sung, unaccompanied
(monophonic)
– Melody set to sacred Latin texts
 Since
Second Vatican Council (1962-1965):
Most Roman Catholic services have been in
native language of each county
 Melody can be set:
– 1. Syllabically – one note per syllable
– 2. Neumatically – few notes per syllable
– 3. Melismatically – many notes per syllable
– Today, Gregorian chant less common
– Enhances specific parts of service
– Set atmosphere for prayers/rituals
– Conveys calm – represents the voice of
the church, rather than individual
 Rhythm
– Flexible
– Without meter
– Little sense of beat – Rhythm wasn’t
notated
 Sounds
like it floats, almost improvisational
 Depending on nature of text, may be simple
or elaborate
WHY THIS MATTERS!
 For
centuries, composers have
continued to base compositions on
chant melodies.
 The same way old Indian trails are
now our Interstate routes and major
highways, Gregorian chant is the
basis for ALL of our music today.
LISTENING TO GREGORIAN
CHANT
 Alleluia:
Vidimus Stellam
– gregorian chant
– Books pg. 86
O
Successores
– Hildegard von Bingen
– Books pg. 88
 Pope
Gregory I (the Great)
– 590-604
– Reorganized the Catholic liturgy
– Did not create it
– Some came from: Jewish synagogues of
the first centuries after Christ
– Most of the several thousand melodies
known today were created A.D. 6001300
 First
melodies passed down by oral
tradition
 Eventually notated to ensure musical
uniformity throughout the western
church
 Since
Second Vatican Council (19621965):
– Most Roman Catholic services have been
in native language of each county
– Today, Gregorian chant less common
CHURCH MODES
 Unique
sound of Gregorian chant is
because of the scales that were used
 Scales of the middle ages were
church modes
 7 different tones and an eighth tone
to make an octave
 Ancestors of modern-day scales
7
Church Modes:
– Ionian
C-C
– Dorian
D-D
– Phrygian
E-E
– Lydian
F-F
– Mixolydian
G-G
– Aeolian
A-A
– Locrian
B-B
HOMEWORK FOR TOMORROW
 Create
a timeline of important events
we covered today regarding the
Middle Ages.
– It’s up to you to make it look however
you think it should.
GROUP PRESENTATIONS
Group A: 100 Years War
Bilal Aziz
Aaron Brunnworth
Claire Chandler
Kalyn Moore
Nathan Novak
Group C: Norman Conquest
Taimoor Aziz
Jacob Burns
Andrew Drake
Dominique Flyte
Emma Brown
Group B: Black Death
Kieryn Beyerl
Nick Caban
Phil Kosydor
Ryan Kaminsky
Julian Harvey
Group D: The Crusades
Alec Camp
Blake Noud
Chris Pearson
Anna Stamer