Middle Ages Music Essay

The features of music in the Middle Age were very different from the music that society listens to in today’s time. The main form of music in the Middle Ages was the Gregorian chant. This style of music was often listened to in churches during that era. The Gregorian chant was composed of Latin language and performed without instruments. The chants came in various genres all depending on their religious purpose. Some of them consisted of monotone with a slight change in pitch, while others consisted of hundreds of notes over an octave. The chants share two characteristics forms. One of them is nonmetrical, which does not have a clear meter, has a free rhythm, and lacks a beat. The other is created is around D, E, F, or G. Both styles of the …show more content…
The modes were given Greek names because they included modes of ancient Greek music. The modes were Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, and Mixolydian. The modes had different arrangements of half steps and whole steps in their scales. This caused the tunes of chants to sound dissimilar from modern music. As previously stated, Gregorian chants were very popular in churches during the Middle Ages, but what exactly were these chants? They were sacred songs that varied from short notes and single pitches, to long melodies. These chants were often inspired from parts of the Old Testament. This music was sung by monks without instruments, fully acapella. The main purpose of this music was not for personal enjoyment like most modern music, but rather to praise God without other soundly distractions. Secular music was the opposite of Gregorian chant music. Secular music was not used for the churches such as chants were and it was instrumental, unlike the chants. However, secular music was still well liked during the Middle Ages. These songs were often played by artists or a band, but they were not typically written down. The subject of this genre was typically related to