1. 3. Dance in Antiquity and the Midle Ages
1. Greece
1.1. The divine origin of music
1.2. Characteristics of Greek music
2. Middle Ages
2.1. Religious vocal music: the Gregorian chant
2.2. Secular vocal music: Troubadours and Minstrels
2.3. The birth of polyphony
3. Dance in Antiquity and the Midle Ages
Índice del libro

2. For Greek people, music vas an art of divine origin.
Greece
1.1. The divine origin of music
For Greek people, music vas an art of divine origin.
Music was thought to have magical powers that could cure illness and modify behaviors.
That is way it was seen as an essential discipline in the education of young people.
Orpheus with his lyre.

3. Greece 1.2. Characteristics of Greek musik
The concept of music encompasses music, poetry and dance.
It makes use of a monodic texture with a heterophonic accompaniment.
Musical system based on modal scales.
The different distributions of tones and semitones of each scale caused a different sonority associated to the «ethos» or particular feeling.

4. Musical instruments in Ancient Greece.
Grecia
1.2. Características de la música en Grecia
Musical instruments in Ancient Greece.
Alphabetic notation por the pitch of sound,
and metrical feet for the rhytm.
The most important instruments were the lyre and the aulos.

5. Middle Ages 2.1. Religious vocal music: the Gregorian chant
Characteristics of the Gregorian chant
It uses a special notation by means of neumes.
It is a type of music destined for the liturgy.
The musical rhythm is free.
Use of Latin as its main language.
It uses a system of eight modal scales derived from the Greek modes with a different distribution of tones and semitones.
It has a mododic texture and a single melodic line.

6. Middle Ages Troubadours Minstrels
2.2. Secular vocal music: Troubadours and Minstrels
Troubadours were poe-musicians, generally of noble birth. They appears in the south of France in the 11th century and expanded rapidly throught Europe.
Troubadours
Minstrels were traveling musicians who went over castles and villages entertaining people with songs, representation and acrobatics.
Minstrels
Characteristics of the music of troubadours:
These were songs written in the vernacular languages of each area.
Main subjects were “courtly love” and the knightly spirit of the heroes from the crusades.
It is a type of vocal music with a monodic texture but with instrumental accompaniment.
It makes use of Gregorian modal scales but its rhythm is more marked.
In Spain, the music of troubadours was representated by Cantigas de Santa María of Alfonso X the Wise.

7. Middles Ages 2.3. The birth of polyphony
In the late 9th century, polyphony (different melodic lines at the same time) appeared in western music.
Primitive polyphony (9th-12th centuries):
Polyphony is built by improvising upon th base of Gregorian chant. The main forms of primitive polyphony are: organum and melismatic organum.
Ars Antiqua (12th-13th centuries):
The evolution of musical notation made the development of more complex polyphonic forms easier. New polyphonic forms appeared, like the conductus and the motet.
Ars Nova (14th century):
Mensural notation appeared, in which particular values were designated for each sound. New polyphonic forms appeared, like the canon, the ballad and the chanson.

8. Dance in Antiquity and the Middle Ages
Dancing was used in Ancient Greece as a fundamental part of education.
Christianism forbade dances, but in the Middle Ages we find examples generically called estampie.
They use monodic textures and are structured in several phrases or “puncta” that are reppeated.

9. The most used instruments were:
La danza en la Antigüedad y la Edad Media
Medieval instruments
There is a great variety of instruments, and there are a lot of names for them.
The instrumental performance is improvised and it has two functions: to accompany songs, and the performance of dances and processions.
The most used instruments were:
String instruments (harps, lyre, psaltery, qanun, lute, viola, hurdy gurdy).
Wind instruments (horn, trumpet, dulzaina, chirimia, flutes, bagpipes, organ).
Percussion instruments (hand drums, rattle drums, cymbals, triangle, bells, rattles).