UNIT 5 - Music Appreciation - Study Guide

Lesson 1
~Reasons to Study History:
1. Because of personal interest
2. Because history influences our own lives
3. To understand how the world works
4. To learn from the experiences of others
~ We know what music sounded like hundreds of years ago: Through music
notation and study of historical musical instruments, we can recreate music from
centuries ago
~ The oldest surviving instruments: small flutes made from hollow wing bones of birds
~ Ancient Music - Not possible to know: Because there are only a few surviving
examples of ancient notated music and scholars disagree on how to interpret
them
~ The shofar: Jewish instrument made from ram’s horn played like modern day bugle
~ Psalms is the book of the Bible- contains lyrics to largest number of Jewish songs
~ The word MUSIC - comes from the Greek myth of the Muses
~ doctrine of ethos - the Greek idea that music has a unique influence over the
listener’s emotions and behaviors.
~ Muse - a mythical daughter of the Greek god Zeus who personified a specific area of
knowledge or art
~ quadrivium - a specific education division of subjects containing arithmetic, geometry,
astronomy and music
~ shofar - a Jewish instrument made from a ram’s horn and blown like a brass
instrument
~ Ancient Music - we are unfortunately not able to tell with much certainty what this
music sounded like.

Lesson 2 - The Medieval Period - (476 AD - 1400)

~ Ars Antiqua - “ancient art” - term used to refer to earlier medieval styles by the
composers of the Ars Nova movement
~ Ars Nova - “a new art” - a late medieval style of music with especially complete
melodies and rhythms (melodies and rhythms became more complex)
~ church modes - modes or scales often used in Gregorian chant
~ feudalism - the common social system of medieval Europe where land was held and
worked in exchange for leadership and safety
~ Gregorian chant - the official system of songs written to accompany the medieval
church services; also known as plainchant
~ jongleur - a traveling musician and entertainer
~ Mass - the Roman Catholic service during which communion is celebrated
~ melisma - a single syllable of text sung to multiple successive notes
~ minnesinger - a medieval poet and composer from Germany

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 ~ monasticism - system of religious life characterized by seclusion from secular life to
focus on religious pursuits
~ motet (Renaissance) - Renaissance genre with a single Latin text, usually 4 voices
~ ordinary - the part of the Mass that stays the same from day to day
~ organum- plainchant with an added part, usually parallel at interval of a fourth or a
fifth
~ proper- the part of of the Mass that varies depending on the day, usually to celebrate
a specific event or saint
~ troubadour - a medieval poet and composer from southern France
~Perotin -known for his work for advancing the use of organum with some of the
surviving examples having three or even four parts
~Hildegard of Bingen - known for her musical compositions as well as for her writings
on medicine and science
~The Dates - 476 - 1400
~Beginning - Fall of the Western Roman Empire
~End - beginning of the Renaissance Period
~ monasticism - a system of religious life characterized by seclusion from secular life to
Ars Nova
focus on religious pursuits
~ Pope Gregory I - said to have standardized plainchant
~ Characteristics of Plainchant
Changed from monophonic to polyphonic
Distinctive melody line
Use of church modes
Lack of strong rhythm
Use of Melisma
~ Organum added - POLYPHONY to plainchant
~ Most Important Trend - was moving from Monophony to Polyphony
~ How did plainchant change during medieval period (choose all three):
● Addition of second and third voices
● Rhythmic freedom between voices
● Melodic freedom between voices
~ Guido of Arezzo made:
● A system that linked notes to joints in the hand
● A system of syllables like solfege for naming notes
~ Perotin - worked at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris
~ Perotin advanced organum
~ Hildegard of Bingen was also known for her studies in areas other than music
~ Three Medieval musicians outside the church: Minnesinger, jongleur, troubadour
~ Medieval motet - is a polyphonic piece of music based on plainchant but with different
words for the upper voices
~ Guilaume de Machaut - was the composer who was part of the Ars Nova movement
~ During Ars Nova - the melodies and rhythms became increasingly complex.
~ Ars Nova - ANCIENT ART

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Lesson 3 - Renaissance Period (1400 - 1600)
~ Renaissance thinkers looked back to the Greeks and Romans
~ Renaissance began in Italy
~ There was NO WAY to know what Greek and Roman music sounded like, because
there were no audio recordings and very few examples of written music.
~ Calvanists - rewrote certain church services
~ Guillaume Dufay - the most well-known composer from the early Renaissance
period and known for his musical settings of the Mass
~ chorale - a hymn especially one used in the Lutheran Church
~ consort - a group of instruments of the same family played together
~ galliard - a fast lively Renaissance dance
~ jig - a lively dance of Irish origin
~ Lute - a fretted string instrument similar to the guitar
~ Madrigal - a short composition set to the text of a poem
~ motet (medieval) - a polyphonic piece of music based on a plainchant but with
different words for the upper voices
~ pavane - a slow, stately Renaissance dance.
~ psalter - a metrical translation of the book of Psalms; often used in singing
~ recorder - a flute-like instrument held in a vertical orientation
~ saltarello - a lively, traditional Italian dance (duple meter)
~ shawm - an instrument with a double reed; similar to an oboe
~ viol - an early relative of the violin family
~ Parts of the Mass: Kyrie; Gloria; Credo; Sanctus; Agnus Dei;
Listening - Tambourine; DUPLE Meter; Compound Meter
~ THREE Trends that were present in the music of the Reform Churches:
1- They moved toward simpler, more singable music
2 - they rewrote certain church services
3- They moved away from Latin toward everyday language
~ Imitative Polyphony and Homophony - are the two textures used by the Renaissance
musicians as part of their movement away from the complexity of the Ars Nova movement
~ The madrigal was born in Italy but it also became quite popular in England.
~ Four Types of Renaissance Dances
Saltarello, Galliard, Jig, Pavane
~Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina- late-Renaissance composer who was born and lived in Italy
~ Dates for the Renaissance - 1400-1600
~ The Renaissance motet was in one language Latin - while the medieval motet was often in
multiple languages. The Renaissance motet had one set of words and used Renaissance
stylistic such as imitative polyphony and homophony

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Quiz 1 - Review
~ Guillaume de Machaut was a composer part of the Ars Nova movement
~ The fall of the western roman empire marks the beginning of the medieval period
~ The beginning of the renaissance marks the end of the medieval period
~ General trend medieval period- from monophony to polyphony
~ Not a major source of inspiration for Renaissance thinkers- Egyptians
~ Organum added polyphony to plainchant
~ Calvinists developed the psalter.
~ Hildegard of Bingen- known for studies outside of music
~ Gregory the I, Pope was said to have standardized the system of plainchant
~ The beginning of Renaissance period marks the END of the medieval period
~ Giovanno Pierluigi da Palestrina was born in Italy
~ The Renaissance Period is from 1400 AD to 1600
~ The Medieval Period is from 476 - 1400
~ Madrigal - Born in Italy and also became popular in England.
~ Guido of Arezzo -developed tool for learning notes assigning them to certain knuckles
~ Medieval motet- often written in multiple languages.
~ Ars Nova movement did NOT have increasing similarity to older forms
~ Medieval Musicians included: Troubadour, Minnesinger, and Jongleur
~ Major sources of inspiration for the Renaissance Period: Greeks and Romans
~ Ancient Music-not sure how it sounded because little ancient music has survived
~ Monasticism- significant trent during medieval period
~ Flutes made from bones are the oldest surviving instruments
~ Not true of Perotin- He is known for his wide travels to promote the piano.
~ Not a dance of the Renaissance- foxtrot
~ Alleluia- not setting of the mass.
~ Difference between Renaissance musicians and other Renaissance artists- musicians
were not able to learn directly from examples of the ancient Greeks and Romans.
~ Flute- oldest surviving type of instrument
~ Lute - fretted string instrument similar to the guitar
~ Recorder - flute-like instrument held in a vertical orientation
~ Shawm - double-reed instrument similar to an oboe
~ Shofar - instrument made from a Ram’s horn and blown like a brass instrument
~ Viol - early relative of the violin family
~ Guillaume Dufay- the most well-known composer from early Renaissance period
and known for his musical settings of the Mass
~ Medieval motet- Was written in multiple languages
~ Not a stylistic characteristic of Renaissance- trend toward complexity of Ars Nova
~ Innovations applied to plainchant during medieval period:
● Addition of second and third voices
● Rhythmic freedom between voices
● Melodic freedom between voices
~ THREE trends present in music of Reformation Churches:

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 ● They moved toward simpler, more singable music
● They rewrote certain church services
● They moved away from Latin toward everyday language

Lesson 4 - Baroque Period - 1600-1750

~ Baroque come from? - It was a term first used by jewelers to describe a touch or
irregular pearl
~ Baroque applied to music? - The term baroque was applied to music to characterize
the music as overly ornate, since the term was often used to describe things that
were needlessly intricate.
~ Age of Absolutism - other names for the Baroque period reflects the popular idea at
the time that monarchs had an absolute claim to authority over their subjects
~ Doctrine of affections - theory insisted that emotions could be separated into a series
of discrete units and that a piece of music should focus on communicating a
single one of those emotions.
~ Two Main themes of Baroque: Emotional expression and Order or structure
~ Two Main Themes relate: Order was often used to further the emotional
expressiveness of the music.
~ Melodic trends of the Baroque (choose two!): 1- moving away from polyphony and
toward a more prominent melodic line; 2 - the use of ornaments.
~ Main rhythmic trend: A move toward more consistent meter; As a result, bar lines
were introduced to written music
~ Harmonic trends of the Baroque period (choose two!): growing popularity of
homophony and move away from church modes toward major and minor modes
~ Two of the harmonic techniques (choose two!): Ground Bass and Basso Continuo
~ Terraced dynamics: Certain instruments such as the harpsichord were unable to
change between dynamic levels gradually
~ In basso continuo, bass line is called the BASSO part, and accompanying chords
are called the CONTINUO part.
~ Dates for Baroque Period: 1600 - 1750

Additional terms:
~ basso continuo -Baroque period technique- bass line with accompanying chords
~ Ornament - an embellishment to a melody line; can be written or improvised
~ terraced dynamics - a system where dynamics change suddenly instead of gradually

Lesson 5 - Baroque Vocal Music

~ Characteristics of the development of opera (choose all four!):
● Included recitative and aria formats
● First public operas in Venice
● First developed in Florence

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 ● First presented just to nobles and their guests
~ Recitative and Aria Differences in both form and function: Recitative sounded
more like regular speech accompanied by unobtrusive music. The form
supported its function of moving the plot of the opera forward at a regular pace.
The aria included far less action and instead focused on the emotion of that
moment. The A B A form of an aria allows for the singer to show off
embellishment and skill during the repeat of the A section.
~Claudio Monteverdi known for- madrigals and operas, especially his opera, Orfeo
~Compare and contrast: Opera and Oratorio - similar because they are performed
with the same instrumentation and vocalists, with the same form (arias and
recitative) and in the same place - the opera house. Differ because oratorio is on
a Biblical subject, the oratorio is performed without sets or costumes….
~ Cantatas were performed in Lutheran church services

Additional Terms:
~ aria -extended solo section of music that freezes the dramatic action of the opera and
allows the performer to focus on the ideas and emotions of that one moment
~ cantata - a medium-length vocal or choral piece with orchestral accompaniment.
~ oratorio - a large-scale vocal composition based on a Biblical story of the life of a saint
~ recitative - a section of speech-like singing in an opera that advances the plot

Lesson 6 - Baroque Instrumental Music

~ Two examples of the important development of instruments (choose two!):
● Antonio Stradivari developed advanced string instruments
● The Piano was invented!
~ Strings - group of instruments that formed core of the Baroque Orchestra
~ Festive orchestra-Larger Baroque orchestra often included oboe, trumpet, & timpani
~ Three most common genres for Baroque orchestras (choose three!):
The suite consists of a collection of several dances, one after another
The concerto grosso contrasts a group of soloists with larger orchestra
The concerto contrasts a soloist with the orchestra.
Additional Terms:
~ festive orchestra- Baroque orchestra with added instruments (oboe, trumpet, timpani)
~ suite - a set of instrumental dances.

Quiz 2 - Review
~ Core of the Baroque orchestra- strings section
~ Writing of Music without a Key: NOT a harmonic trend during the Baroque period
~ Emotional expression and order: two main stylistic themes from Baroque music
~ Instruments develop- There were several important developments, including the
invention of new instruments.
~ Concerto Grosso: genre for Baroque orchestra contrasts a group of soloists

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 with a larger orchestra
~ Claudio Monteverdi helped develop Opera
~ Cantatas were usually heard in the Lutheran Church
~ Age of Absolutism: was another name for the Baroque period that reflected the
power of the monarchy during that time period
~ Operas performed- initially performed privately; soon after in opera houses
~ Doctrine of affections was the musical theory from the Baroque Period included the
idea that each piece of music should focus on a particular emotion.
~ Baroque was applied to music: to indicate that the music was overly showy
~ The term Baroque came from: A jewelers term for misshapen pearl
~ The term Baroque “initially” applied: to indicate that the music was overly showy
~ Date Range for Baroque period: 1600-1750
~ NOT true of Basso Continuo: includes two parts, the outer and the inner
~ NOT true of opera and oratorio: Opera is more likely to use a choir
~ NOT a characteristic of recitative: Always preceded by an intermission
~ NOT a characteristic of aria: Falls only at the end of the opera
~ NOT a harmonic trend: writing of music without a key
~ NOT a melodic trend: A move toward placing the melody in the bass line
~ Rhythmic trend during the Baroque Period: more consistent meter

Lesson 7 - Antonio Vivaldi (1678 - 1741)

~ Spring from The Four Seasons- @2:35 is the moment the first movement of “Spring”
represents the sonnet’s description that “the birds take up again their
delightful songs.”
~ “Winter” reappears @2:45 - “stamping one’s feet” is the element from
the sonnet for the Allegra non molto movement of “Winter”
~ program music - music written to give the impression of a scene or event
~ Vivaldi lived in Venice for most of his life
~ Vivaldi’s job at the orphanage related to his music because- Many of Vivaldi’s pieces
were written for his students at the orphanage
~ His nickname was “the red priest,” because he was a Catholic priest and had red hair
~ Characteristic genre was the concerto
~ Two contributions to the genre of the concerto (choose two!):
Established three movements as the standard
Developed and popularized ritornello form
~ Example of program music- The Four Seasons

Lesson 8 - Johann Sebastian Bach (1685 - 1750)

~ Considered old-fashioned during his lifetime. He did not write music in the new styles
of his day, but focused on developing and mastering existing styles and genres.
~Well-Known works (choose all seven!):
1. Well-Tempered Clavier
2. St. John Passion

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 3. “Air on the G String”
4. St. Matthew Passion
5. Goldberg Variations
6. Mass in B Minor
7. Brandenburg Concertos

~ Country that Bach was from Germany

Lesson 9 - George Frideric Handel (1685 - 1759)

~ Father’s plans for him- Handel’s father planned for him to become a lawyer. Although
Handel studied law for one year, but quit to focus on music
~ Two Genres he was well-known for (choose two!): Italian Opera and Oratorio
~ Stayed in London -because he visited London first to oversee the production
of his opera. He continued to take extended trips there, and soon after, his
employer became the King of England and moved there as well.
~ Helped found and direct in 1719 - The Royal Academy of Music
~ Two of Handel’s well-known compositions (choose two!): Messiah and Water Music
~ Ailment Bach and Handel suffered from later in life- blindness

Quiz 3 - Review

~ Vivaldi
● Vivaldi lived in Venice, Italy for most of his life
● Vivaldi was nicknamed “the red priest” because he had red hair and was
a catholic priest
● Vivaldi was best known for Concertos
● The Four Seasons - is an example of program music and by Vivaldi
● Wrote many of his pieces for his students at the orphanage
● He established three movements as the standard for the genre of
concerto

~ Handel:
● Handel’s father wanted him to pursue - Law
● Handel was well known for Italian Opera and Oratorio
● Handel moved to London early in his career where he ended up staying
● Handel helped found and direct - Royal Academy of Music
● Brandenburg Concertos - was NOT written by Handel
● Handel and Bach suffered from Blindness later in life
● His employer was Prince George, who later became King George I

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 ~ Bach:
NOT True about Bach’s Life: He grew up without much musical influence
● Aida is NOT one of Bach’s compositions
● Bach spent most of his life in Germany
● Handel and Bach suffered from Blindness later in life
● He had 20 children, although 3 died during childhood
● His career focused on mastering existing styles and genres rather than
writing
● music in the new styles
● Bach’s music was regarded: It was considered old-fashioned by some

~ Program Music: Music written to give an impression of a scene or event,

an example- The Four Seasons by Vivaldi.

Practice Test (see the info under Unit 5 test below - same information)

Unit 5 Test
~ Ancient:
Not much is known about how the music of this period sounded
~ Medieval:
Time period was from 476 - 1400AD
General Trend of music during this period was monophony to polyphony
Beginning of this period is marked by the fall of the Western Roman Empire
Monasticism was a significant trend in the Catholic Church during this period
~ Renaissance:
Time period lasted from 1400 - 1600
~ Baroque period
Time period was from 1600 - 1750
Popular idea from this time period was the doctrine of affections, with the result
Period name came from the misshapen pearl
Major Rhythmic trend during this period was consistent meter in all music
Music in this period was generally Major and Minor Modes

Instruments in alphabetical order:

~ Flute- oldest surviving type of instrument
~ Lute - fretted string instrument similar to the guitar
~ Recorder - flute-like instrument held in a vertical orientation
~ Shawm - double-reed instrument similar to an oboe
~ Shofar - instrument made from a Ram’s horn and blown like a brass instrument

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 ~ Viol - early relative of the violin family

Composers/other important people::

~ Johann Sebastian Bach - German composer from a family of Musicians
~ George Handel - composer known for producing Italian operas in England
~ Gregory I - pope credited with standardizing the system of plainchant
~ Guido of Arezzo - developed a tool for learning notes buy assigning them to certain
knuckles on the hand
~ Hildegard of Bingen - composer known for her studies outside of music
~ Guillaume de Machaut - composer known for being part of the Ars Nova movement
~ Claudio Monteverdi - composer known for helping to develop opera in its early days
~ Giovanni Palestrina - late renaissance composer from Italy
~ Perotin - known for advancing the technique of organum
~ Antonio Vivaldi - Italian composer of The Four Seasons

Other info to know in alphabetical order:

~ Aria - part of an opera that gives performers a chance to show off their technical skills
~ Cantata - was a genre normally heard in the Lutheran Church
~ Concerto - features a single soloist with an orchestra
~ Concerto Grosso- instrumental genre features a group of soloists with an orchestra
~ Dance (Renaissance Dance): examples: pavane, the saltarello, and the galliard
~ Madrigal - Renaissance genre first developed in Italy, also became popular in
England
~ Mass includes: Kyrie, Gloria, Sanctus
~ Opera - was initially performed privately, but it was soon after performed in public area
The introduction of organum added polyphony to th
similar to today’s movie theaters
~ Oratorio - similar to opera but with a scared subject
~ Plainchant - the introduction of organum added polyphony to the genre
~ Plainchant - melodic and rhythmic freedom between voices was applied to this during
the medieval period
~ Recitative - is a part of an opera that advances the plot of the opera and sounds
similar to a natural speaking voice
~ Renaissance Dance: examples: pavane, the saltarello, and the galliard
~ Strings - section that forms the core of the Baroque orchestra

CONGRATS ON COMPLETING UNIT 5… and this semester in Music!

● Send me an email or text to let me know! I’d love to hear from you and say congrats!
[email protected] 469-893-0859

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