This
month, Clef Notes is geared to the true music nerd. We are stepping way back in
time to look at how Western music is actually rooted in antiquity. We will then
walk through the development of chant, notation, and the importance of music in
the church during the Middle Ages.
Did
you know that ancient Greek writings provide influence for Western views on
music? More writings about music survive from ancient Greece than from any
other civilization. Some of these writings focus on how music affects the listener.
Others talk about music theory. You’ve probably heard of Plato and Aristotle,
right? They wrote about how music can affect mood. Plato believed that music
should only be used to educate while Aristotle’s views said that it is
perfectly alright to listen to music to bring pleasure.
We
don’t really have much in the way of notated music dating from ancient times.
Most of what we know comes from writings such as these. It is believed that
musicians of that time tended to rely more on their memory and formulas when
passing along musical ideas orally rather than on notation.
The
church played a large role in Medieval culture. In fact, it is what helped
music traditions develop, eventually leading to the system of notation we know
today. We’ll talk about this more next time.
