Middle Ages Unit

1. Middle Ages Unit Years 500-1400 AD

2. Day 1

3. Sacred Music(religious music) • Written down by monks and priests • Very simple • Plainsong- 1 melody • Gregorian Chant • No fixed rhythm • Unaccompanied • Latin words • Named after Pope Gregory I http://youtu.be/VqZ3kwdqtVY

4. Sacred Music continued • Performance • A capella • Started with 2 singers and moved into using 2 choirs • Added acting to help the understanding of the words

5. Neums

6. Secular Music(“pop” music) • Troubadours • Usually played the lute • Entertainers • Name from France • Poets and composers • Jonglers • Traveled around • Played instruments • Singers/performers

7. Secular Music continued • Minnesingers • German- 12th-14th Centuries • Means “singers of love songs” • Wrote religious and political music • Goliards • Monk dropouts • Wrote Goliard Songs • Latin text • 11th-12th Centuries • Wrote songs about satire and life http://youtu.be/-Ho_2e6DT1g

8. Secular Music continued(“pop” music) • Love Songs • Early popular music • Joy and pain of love • Chanson de geste (song of gestures) • Epic narrative poem/song • About national heroes • About heroic deeds and events • Used simple melodies • Sung by Jonglers • “Song of Roland” • National epic from France http://youtu.be/3x9knD4_R40

9. Composers of the Middle Ages • Guillaume de Machaut • Lived from 1300-1377 • Composer that had royal employment • Philippe de Vitry • Lived from 1291-1361 • Wrote secular music • “Ars Nova” • Means “New Art” • 4 part music- Soprano, Alto, Tenor, Bass

10. Some extras • Code of Chivalry • Behavior that began to govern how people acted • Church • Source of culture • Church year determined the melody of the chant

11. Day 2

12. Black Plague • Wiped out entire villages • People died within days • Clergy died helping people • Skin turned purple; led to the name • Songs • “Scarborough Fair” • “Ring Around the Rosey” http://youtu.be/XEhAXQ5QQzs

13. Black Plague continued • Transmitted to humans by infected fleas and rats • Victim suffered from fever, chills, fatigue, and painfully swollen lymph nodes • Caused the beginning of the Middle Class • If you have a weak stomach, don’t look at the next slide!!!!!

15. Day 3

16. Instruments of the Middle Ages • Lute • Troubadours typically played the lute • Early guitar • Ideal for accompaniment and solo performance

17. Lute ://youtu.be/lwHZxlFkhsk

18. Instruments continued • Harp http://youtu.be/Ki6Mzh6aeGI • Very ancient • Strings made from twisted animal gut • Psaltryhttp://youtu.be/oyRWbUre20w • Plucked strings • Was used to accompany songs from the Bible book of Psalms

19. Instruments continued • Drums • Another name is “tabor” • Earliest instruments • Hollow tree trunks with animal skin • Used all over the world

20. Drums (tabor) http://youtu.be/HPZUiZwb-TE

21. Instruments continued • Dulcimer • Greek for “sweet sound” • Multiple pitches by striking strings on either side of bridge

22. Dulcimer http://youtu.be/QCNuZ6CmczU

23. Instruments continued • Bagpipe • Made from reed pipe and goat or sheep skin • Used all throughout Europe

24. Bagpipe http://youtu.be/OPD9-s8CVHA

25. Instruments continued • Crumhorn • German for “curved horn” • Curve is decorative • Buzzing sound like a kazoo

26. Crumhorn http://youtu.be/UI30-9TsafQ

27. Instruments continued • Recorder • Many different types and sizes http://youtu.be/e2swX39yKUk

28. Instruments continued • Organ • 2 types of organs • Portative • carried around the neck • portable • Positive • larger; has to be set down to be played • need 2 people

29. Organs http://youtu.be/ID-69ynpqdE

30. Instruments continued • Pipe and Tabor • Pipe and drum- “one man band” • Pipe has 3 melody holes • Left hand plays pipe while right hand plays the drum (tabor)

31. Pipe and Tabor http://youtu.be/4URAOhbb7sI

32. Instruments continued • Gemshorn • Made from animal horn • Shepherds used it to calm animals http://youtu.be/gi-wRi5V8ak

33. Instruments continued • Rebec • Early form of the violin • Used bow on strings- attempt to make and instrument imitate the voice • Instrument of lower class • 3-5 strings

34. Rebec http://youtu.be/zNvPJ2Fuzns

35. Instruments continued • Gamba (viol dagamba; viol) • Has 6 strings • Held between the legs while seated • Early form of the cello

36. Viol daGamba http://youtu.be/rgbA-JPjHTk

37. Instruments continued • Hurdy Gurdy • 1st stringed instrument to be played by the keyboard • Ideal for dance music

38. Hurdy Gurdy http://youtu.be/r4y7HNW972M

39. Instruments continued • Lizard (tenor cornet) • Curved shape like a flattened letter “s” • Blends well with voices

40. Instruments continued • Serpent (bass cornet) • Ancestor to the tuba • Used in sacred music to reinforce men’s voices • Used as a military band instrument after the Middle Ages

41. Serpent http://youtu.be/kVxuYXLAVsM

42. Instruments continued • Sacbut • Ancestor to the trombone http://youtu.be/ODRbUuy2iRI

43. Instruments continued • Bladder Pipe • Reed enclosed by an animal bladder • Blow into the bladder through a wooden pipe • Loud instrument

44. Bladder Pipe http://youtu.be/RMbaIEWVZ08

45. Dances • Thread the Needle- line dance • Estampie- line dance • Stomp 1 foot • L’Escargot- circle dance • Snail • Brawl- circle dance • Dances in the Middle Ages usually had a circle shape