Gregorian Chants History

Monasticism was a way of life for those who thought everyday life too sinful, and decided to devote themselves to God, either communally in the monastery or lavriote, a life of solitude. St Benedict around five hundred and forty AD set down rules which were to become the basis for monastic life in the Catholic church; poverty, obedience, chastity, and work. In these monasteries theology was preserved. A different form of monasticism developed in Ireland due to the fact it was isolated from the rest of Europe. Monks were more like the hermits of Egypt rather those of Roman Christianity. Scholarship developed in these monasteries, also a new form of art called Hiberno-Saxon. These monasteries kept literacy skills alive. Monks would transcribe and decorate sacred texts by hand. Such texts include the Book of Kells and the Lindisfaire

​ Life in the Middle Ages revolved around the Church, which was the Roman Catholic. So, we can imagine early music was pretty much from church. Every morning at 9 o’clock was Mass, a significant ceremony done to commemorate the Last Supper. At this church service, the music was the Gregorian Chant. The Gregorian chant is performed in the Latin language, unison voice and accompanied by no instruments which was believed that the text of the song which carried the divine message from God was more important. The music was just to help you get to a spiritual place (Wright, 4-1a).

This is the codex for the legion Ultramarines. You must abide by these rules to progress in the Ultramarines.

Before 1865 spirituals were known as “shouts”. Hand clapping, foot tapping, and deep humming were usually involved in the “shouts” and the tunes were closely related to those of hymns from the bible. African American spirituals sent messages of how to live by God. The lyrics of the spirituals were most

From the composition of Gregorian Chants to the music of Claudio Monteverdi, the music composition and text setting evolved. Gregorian Chants were sung liturgical prayers, with its emphasis on text setting, which heightened the musical aspects of language. Josquin Desprez was a composer during the medieval period in which he used continuous imitation where voices would pick up melodic motives of other parts and incorporate them into the canon. With the development of motets, Desprez was able to have more freedom with melodic expireimentation. An example of Desprez’s compositions would be Ave Maria, a motet with four voice parts in which a phrase would be sung and echoed by the other three voice parts.

Music is something that everybody can relate to and feel. In any honor choir that I have been to, I always hear that, "Music is an international language." It's true, because anyone can relate to music based on the chords, notes, and energy of the piece. This winter I went down to the University of North Dakota in Grand Forks and sang in their honor choir for high school students. We sang a piece called "Lullaby" by Joe Miller which is about

The excerpts found in The Holy Rule of St. Benedict helped guide the monks with serenity and peace, order, and self-sufficiency. “... Deus, in adjutorium meum intende; Domine, ad adjuvandum me festina, there is next to be said three times, Domine, labia mea aperies, et os meum annuntiabit laudem tuam [These were prayers from the Divine Office from Psalm 50[51];17” (Rule of Benedict IX). The monks accomplished serenity and peace by reciting this Psalm because it was considered part of the Divine Office which were a set of prayers. The Divine Office was prayed regularly- eight times per day. St. Benedict arranged an organized albeit strict schedule for the monks to follow that orders a time table revolved around the Divine Office.

There are many reasons why people would listen to music, whether it be for entertainment or for relaxing purposes. Each type of music can communicate something differently and can be a powerful means of communication. Music provides a means by which people can share Information, emotions, action, and stories. Communication in music is unique because it is universal and listeners can comprehend what the music is communicating even in a different language. There are many characteristics in a song such as volume, pitch, and timbre that helps what the music is communicating. However, many people might have different views on what the music is trying to communicate. All these characteristics of music plays a significant role in each unique individual’s

First, the sounds make people want to move their body. When I visited Haiti, there was never a quiet day. The music made it impossible for people not to move. Music was part of the Haiti resident’s everyday life. The most interesting thing that I realized while visiting was that it wasn’t only Haitian songs. It was Jamaican songs, hip hop songs, county songs, and even Spanish songs. They also had live music. The beating on the drums, the lovely pitch from the singers, and the base on the guitars all came together to make something beautiful every time.

Music not only has issues in discrimination and racism but also in religion. In an article by Lake State Publications (2002), the transformation of music started during the early Christian era. It said that only Gregorian Chants were recognized in sacred ceremonies. However, secular and non-religious songs became rampant when the church had an unlikely encounter with the French Nobles called troubadours causing them to write the very first secular songs and ask the ministers to sing them to the public. Secular music continued to gain importance to the masses and vocal music became more important

For example the Armenian ,Medieval period pieces were mostly low pitched and slow because they were supposed to make you feel sad and feel bad in a way they were slow pieces that did not have fast paces notes that made you feel excited and happy they were pieces that made you feel down and sad. I really enjoyed listening to Alexander Konstantinovich musical pieces because most of what was played was high pitched and fast paced, me personally I enjoy that a bit more then low pitched and slow they are fast and fun. For example land of heroes was a high pitched fast piece because it makes you think of people winning a war and there are the heroes of the land so it gives you an exciting good feeling of accomplishment, where the Armenian chants were from the medieval times and were made of more low pitches notes and gave you a feeling of sadness.

The history of the Greek Chorus can be traced back to a relatively small time period; from the original Dithyrambs, to Thespis' small, but revolutionizing changes to the system, to Aeschylus' triple entente of tragedies The Oresteia, which included the infamous Agamemnon. To truly understand the Greek Chorus, and what role it was meant to play when it was created and thereafter altered, one has to go back to the beginning of time…which in this case happens to be somewhere around the seventh century, B.C. During this time, the festival of Dionysus was held annually in Athens to celebrate and honor the god for which it was named. Dionysus, being the Greek (and Roman) god of wine and of an

Music is not simply a sound that we find pleasing. It is the culmination of notes, chords, rhythms, melodies, harmonies, voices, and instruments. Rhythm, melody, and harmony are the rudimentary elements of music. Rhythm is the most vital element of music. It is the beat and is arguable the reason that a song is initially appealing. I find it interesting that although the deaf cannot hear music they can feel a beat. Melody is the tune of a song and the part that is most recognizable. Melodies are made up of a succession of pitches, whose highness or lowness can dictate the overall mood of the piece. The harmony of a piece of music is designed to support and enhance the melody. The harmony is present to add depth to a piece of music. When I was part of the high school choir I was an alto; although the harmony was more difficult to learn, it was, as my choir director would put it, the “gravy” of the piece, meaning that even though the melody could stand easily by itself, the harmony adds an element far more

The masses in the religious services had to be sung a cappella in this specific order or it was considered a disgrace and ruined the sacred pieces. The high priests of the Catholic churches were very strict on how the sacred music was sung and preserved.

Beginning at around 476 AD, the medieval era is mostly related to the church as most music from this era is sacred. The style of this era, the Gregorian chant is monophonic only comprising of the plainchant (or the single- line melodies of early church music) in texture only comprising of the plainchant (or the single- line melodies of early church music). It is not until the arrival of the French composers Léonin and Pèrotin in 1100 and 1200 respectively that polyphony would be incorporated into musical worship with the “decoration” of Gregorian chant with one or more simultaneous musical lines, thus transitioning from Gregorian chant to Organum. During this era, most of the music and roles for musicians belonged to the church except for the troubadours of southern France and the trouvères of northern France. The music was responsorial between the mass and the father during church and was