Musical Eras Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Musical Eras - Essay Example a. Chants – The earliest commonly known music was most probably medieval chants. This type of music was found in Jewish and early Christian music and consisted of chanting or singing the Psalms. Chants were developed to regionally to follow local liturgies. Monks often were responsible for singing the chants. One early Monk made a big impression on medieval music. Guido d’Arrezo, an Italian Monk, created the original Do, Re, Me, using his hand (Neff, 2007). The Guidonian Hand was a chart that put notes on the right hand. This easy to learn chart was a system to help people learn the notes. His original Do, Re, Me sounded much like the song Julie Andrews sang in the 1959 musical â€Å"The Sound Of Music† (Neff, 2007). During his lifetime d’Arrezo trained singers at a local cathedral. The Roman Catholic Church made good use of chants using them in their daily and special masses. Most European or American educated individuals are familiar with Gregorian Chants that were very much a part of the early Catholic Church literagy. b. Goliards – Goliards are best described as poet-musicians. These musicians were made up of scholars who sang and recited poetry in Latin. It is believed they played a big part in the development of the Troubadours. Some Goliards were secular and some were religious. Because they were scholars and literate they were able to write songs down.