Baroque Instrumental Music Instrumental music has been around since the beginning of Unit 1, but is now finally developed and important enough to be considered as a genre. During the Renaissance instrument makers grew in number and skill. More people learned to play instruments (an influence from Greek thinking that Music was an important part of a good education). Here are some questions related to Baroque music, (particularly instrumental music) to answer: What was equal temperament? How did it change music? What are terraced dynamics? Find a piece in your text that has terraced dynamics and learn to identify them. What is basso continuo? Who plays it? What is figured bass? What was it for? What does a baroque orchestra look like? What are the most popular instruments from the Baroque period? We also want to consider the attributes, origins, function, performers, and composers for following instrumental genres* from the Baroque period: The Concerto (esp. the Concerto Grosso) The Suite The Fugue* The sonata is also mentioned in the text. The study quizzes will explore the sonata somewhat. We will not focus on it very much for the unit test. It is not a very standardized genre of music at this point in music history. But, we will study the classical era sonata in great detail next unit. *The Fugue is both a genre and a form.
