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Advantages And Disadvantages Of The Periods Of Music

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It cannot be denied that teaching music is not easy. It is not like teaching a language, where you are either right or wrong. Music has so many components to it with different features and genres . To cater for teaching this broad subject, many teachers have slipped into the habit of teaching music and music history using the “periods of music” approach. In my opinion, there are many advantages and disadvantages to this method. There is a broad range of musical periods today such as the Medieval period, The Renaissance period, the Baroque period, the Classical period, the Romantic period and the Modern period. While every period has their own distinctive traits, they also have similar traits to other periods. Therefore for this assignment, …show more content…

Whilst similarities are common between the different eras, there are many distinctive traits to specific musical periods. Although polyphonic pieces were being experimented with in the 13-15 century, it was not until the Baroque period that the polyphonic textured pieces began to come together. The Baroque composers are well known for using the polyphonic texture such as Merker. Polyphonic texture refers to when they combined two or more melodies together, creating a dimensional difference. This came at no surprise considering as Baroque music was known to be for the more intelligent, upper-class people of society. This is why Classical music is so distinctive in comparison to Baroque music. Unlike the compound pieces from the baroque period, Classical music is mainly appreciated for its forms and the focus of attention in this music falls on the work, not the performance. It is usually a homophonic texture meaning it only had one main melody which was accompanied. Unlike the Baroque period which has consistent moods throughout the pieces, classical music had contrasting moods. So although similarities between musical periods can make it hard to distinguish what era it is from, there are noticeable traits in each era which make it easy to recognise them. This brings us to the question is it a good or bad idea to teach students according to the musical periods? Personally I think there are more advantages to

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