Medieval Music

Medieval Music

Open Ended

Clue 1: "Before I came along, music was taught by ear, which made it hard for people to remember melodies."

Clue 2: "I developed a new system of music notation that helped musicians read and sing music more easily."

Who am I?

Open Ended

Clue 3: "I was born around the year 990, a time when music was heavily influenced by the Catholic Church."

Clue 4: "I lived in Italy, where I became a monk, dedicating much of my time to studying and teaching music."

Who am I?

• "My system used a four-line staff and a scale based on syllables, which eventually became the 'do-re-mi' scale you know today."

• "I am often called the 'Father of Modern Music Notation.' My method of teaching music notation was revolutionary in my time."

• I helped transform how music was written and learned. My name is often associated with the 'Guidonian Hand,' a tool I created to help singers learn new music more easily."

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​Who was Guido of Arezzo

Multiple Choice

How did musicians/Monks remember the melodies to their songs?

• Vielle

• They did not remember

• Neumes

• Music did not exist

• Monophonic, single-line melody meant to be sung in a church or sacred setting became dominant song form. (Plainchant)

• Gregorian chant was a sacred song form within the medieval Catholic church that was typically monophonic, sung in unison even with multiple performers, devoid of harmony, meter, or accompaniment, and without a strict rhythmic structure.

• 'Sung Prayer' became standard liturgical music for the Catholic church.

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​Early Medieval Ages

Match

Match the instrument with its correct name.

Lute

Lyre

Vielle

Monochord

Harp

• Lute

• Lyre

• Vielle

• Monochord

• Harp

Match

Match the instrument with its correct name.

shawm

sackbut

hurdy gurdy

viol

psaltery

• shawm

• sackbut

• hurdy gurdy

• viol

• psaltery

• ​The troubadours (male) and the trobairitz (female) were composers and performers during the High Middle Ages (1100 - 1350 CE) in Occitania (present day Southern France & part of Spain).

• Originally they were universally of the noble classes, though in the later period, troubadours appeared among commoners and even clergy.

• They travelled throughout the land, spreading news and writing and performing lyric poetry and music.

• Most of the work of the troubadours and trobairitz was concerned with Courtly Love, which was a code of behaviour that emphasized love as the highest virtue.

• It is difficult for us to recreate their music, because medieval music had no signatures for rhythm or tempo.

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