Medieval Music

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Medieval Music
Music of the Middle Ages made great advancements through the centuries, which many
are still evident today.
The Christian Church effected the development of music greatly during the middle ages.
The first major type of music of this time was chanting. “The early Christians inherited the
Jewish chants of synagogues.”(Bishop-324) Chants didn’t have constant rhythm, every note was
about the same length. They had only one melody ,usually in the major key of C. All the singers
sang the same notes together, this is called monophonic. Chants became an significant part of the
church service, they were sung throughout the mass. These first chants were just sung by the
congregation, later on choirs took over.
“Roman Chant became known as Gregorian chant after Pope Gregory I, the great, who
may have composed some of the melodies and who actively encouraged an orderly, ritualized
use of music by the church.”(MS Encarta-1) He also supported the schola cantorum, a singing
school, to teach boys how to chant.
During the ninth century many musicians began to use more than unaccompanied
melody. A new type of chant was formed called organom. Organum was two octaves of
chanting simultaneously. “Organum was important to the history of music, because it was the
first step toward the development of the musical texture known as polyphony (multipart music)
the extensive use of which is the most distinctive feature of Western music.” (MS Encarta-1)
Around the twelfth cent...

Submitted by: digitalessays
Date Submitted: 12-08-2000
Category: History
Words: 1226
Pages: 4.9