Historians think that music continued in a similar style to the Epitaph of Seikilos throughout the time of the Roman Empire.
After years of decline, the Western portion of the Roman Empire (Europe), fell in 476 AD when the Visigoths defeated Romulus Augustulus, the last of the Western Roman Emperors. Note: The Eastern Empire, with its capital in Constantinople, survived until 1453 AD.
The time period from the fall of Rome until about 800 AD is referred to as the Dark Ages. During this time, much of the knowledge of the Ancient Greeks and Romans was lost in Europe. The officials of the Roman Catholic Church were the only large group of educated people in Europe. They kept some of the knowledge of the Greeks and Romans, including music, alive.
The style of music used in church services during the dark ages is known as plainchant. Plainchant continued to be refined and developed slowly throughout the dark ages and well into the Middle Ages (circa 1100 to 1453 AD). Plainchant is still sung today be religious orders. We will study plainchant and the role of the dark age church in greater detail during class. For now, listen to the examples below, and answer the following questions in your blog responses:
1. Is this music monophonic?
2. What language do you think they are singing in?
3. Have you ever been to a service at a church or synagogue that used plainchant? If so, tell us about it in few sentences.
4. In what grade did you study the dark ages in history/social studies class?
5. Does this music sound religious or spiritual to you? (Yes or No) Why?
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1. Yes it is monophonic.
ReplyDelete2. Latin
3. No I have not.
4. I think it was 7th grade.
5. Yes because it sounds calm and soothing in a way you would find it in the church.
-Alex
1.yes, I think so.
ReplyDelete2.Greeks
3.No,I'v never been to church before.
4.7th? I almost forget it.
5.Yes!It's sounds like church music with echo, and has no accompaniment.
Jessica
1. Yes it is monophonic, there is just one voice...
ReplyDelete2. It is latin language.
3. I have never been in a church yet, so I can't say.
4. I have never studied music history or social studies before.
5. I find this music very spiritual and religious. Just one voice (there are some people who are singing, but at the same time) It is very calm and very high in the voice (I don't know how I can say that)
Manon
1.Yes
ReplyDelete2.latin
3.yes, it is very plain music that doesn't have an instrument with it. It has little variation throughout the whole song.
4.7th-8th grade, it studied it a little by myself too.
5.yes,it is very basic music, it has the same tone as some hymns, and it is in a latin-type of language which is used very little now besides church use.
-Ben
Yes, this music is monophonic.
ReplyDeleteI know they are sining in the Latin language because that was the language of all churches until King James of England decided he wanted the bible to be translated to common language for everyone, not just the leader of the churches, to be able to read and understand the bible for themselves. Hence, the King James Version of the bible.
I do believe that when i watched the movie Sahara with Matthew McConaughey, that he hears an african church service of some sort where they are having a service and singing plainchant which is each religion's way of personally connecting with their god. Also, one of my favorite bands has a song on their album that sounds like an ancient Aztec or Mayan religous hymn.
I missed the section where they taught about the Dark Ages, but i would have learned it in 10th grade.
Yes this music sounds spiritual to me. Its because it is very hymn-like and revering.
Micheal