Music
Music from 600 to 1600 crosses a wide array of styles from the tuneful to the almost alien, from dirges to light dances and from the religious to the blasphemous. Our period also covers the birth of modern polyphony, and the development of our current system of notation.
Materials Required
- Tape recorder or CD player.
- Recorded music for as many styles as possible.
- Any faccimiles of old notation you can get your hands on.
- Any period instruments you can get your hands on.
Meeting Outline
It is probably best to deal with this subject in chronological order, so start off with the earliest style you can find a recording of. If you can get a hold of it the original Carmina Burana has some magic moments. Try and find an example of the organum, one of the earliest forms of polyphony. The sound should be sufficiently strange to provoke attention. Cover the move on to polyphony and some of its great composers. Try and bring in as much social context as you can (polyphony was frowned upon by the church for some time in parts of Europe). From here feel free to cover any later developments, such as counterpoint.
As you move through time bring up the instruments used in these time periods, and try to get examples of what each one sounds like. It is probably even worth explaining how some of these developed into modern instruments.
Also cover the forms for pieces of music (pavan, fantasia, balli etc.) and why composers used these. Also, where appropriate, indicate the sort of lyrics that accompanied these songs (in general secular words are far more interesting).
Possible Problems
Don't play musical pieces that last eight minutes each. The meeting is really only to give people a taste of what the music was like, not to give them the full experience. For all that you may enjoy it some people get bored by long Palestrina numbers.
Other Options
This is the perfect opportunity to form a music consort. Ask people if they can play any musical instruments that look like things in period (recorders are great, flute and violin are acceptable, saxaphone is out in general). As long as you have a good source of sheet music and don't expect too much in the early rehearsals you may end up with a nice music consort.
Resources and References
Never underestimate the utility of your liner notes in CDs. These can be a great resource for meetings like this. You're on your own, though, when it comes to selecting which CDs are useful.
Internet resources include:
Webbed by Conrad Leviston. Please mail any suggestions/corrections/comments