Chapter 1 - Ancient Greece
Important Greeks . Homer: Iliad and Odyssey (c750 B.c.E.) two great epics of early Greece Sappho: Ancient Greece's greatest female lyrics poet (7th century B.c.E.) Pericles: Dominated the politics of a city-state of more than 300,000 individuals (Athens) between 469 and 429 B.C.E Acropolis: A hill overlooking Athens, site of temples; construction began c450 B.C.E. Parthenon: Temple to Athena Nike; bringer of victory; patron goddess of Athens
Music in the Greek Theater
(485-406 B.C.E.)
Music survives from Euripides, Orestes
Greek Musical Instruments Lyre: A medium-sized instrument usually fitted with seven strings of sheep gut and plucked by a plectrum of metal or bone Kithara: A very large lyre, also with seven strings, but with a resonator at the bottom made of wood rather than a tortoise shell
reed
The Ethical Power of Music : Pythagoras (c580-480 B.c.E.): Believed that the the essence of the universe could be found in music and number. Review the legend of
Pythagoras passing by the smithy's shop and hearing anvils of the octave, fifth, and fourth.
Plato (429-347):Timeus presents the idea that reality exists only in
the scale and the Platonic theory of "Music of the Spheres'
Aristotle (384-322): Plato's Republic and Aristotle's Politics present the
concept of the ethical quality of music; that music affected the way we behave and that certain kinds of music were uplifting and morally instructive, and other kinds led to deviant behavior
Greek Music Theory Greeks generated notes of scale by using basic ratios of 2:1, 3:2, 4:3, and 9:8 (3:2-4:3=9:8) Put largest intervals c-c, c-G, c-F in place first and filled remaining notes with 9:8 interval. Intervals E-F and B-C were "left over" half steps The result: A diatonic scale with five whole tones and two (approximately) half tones within each octave
Tetrachord: Four note units, the outer notes of which were fixed, the inner
notes moveable Could be strung out in succession for the Greater Perfect System (two note scale) Proslambanomenos
Greek Tonoi Greek tonoi placed conceptually on the Greater Perfect System o Greek genera: Diatonic genus, chromatic genus, and enharmonic genus o Chromatic genus allow for chromatic inflections; enharmonic genus for microtonal inflection
Mixolydian, Lydian, Phrygian, Dorian, Hypolydian, Hypophrygian, Hypodorian
Review of Greek Music A system of consonance and dissonance (octaves, fifths, and multiples were consonances) that would remain unchanged until the fourteenth century A system recognizing octave duplication and dividing each octave into seven pitches (five whole tones and two semitones) The concept of scale patterns, each with its own name, incorporating
different intervallic sequences
A system of tuning, called Pythagorean, that involved mathematically exact octaves, fifths, and fourths; it remained the only system of tuning discussed by music theorists until the late fifteenth century Important musical terms such as "tetrachord," "diatonic," "chromatic," "enharmonic."
Chapter 2 - Ancient Rome
Roman Empire, 177 c.E. . While the Romans were fine politicians and soldiers, and spectacularly good
practices of the ancient Greeks
Roman Tuba The only truly distinctive Roman musical instrument