Bonds ltt pt1_chs01-05_0205986609_final-202984

1. Listen to This, Third Edition
By Mark Evan Bonds
© 2015,2011,2009 Pearson Education, Inc.
All Rights Reserved
PART 1
The Middle Ages
476 CE–Early Fifteenth Century

2. Listen to This, Third Edition
By Mark Evan Bonds
© 2015,2011,2009 Pearson Education, Inc.
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The Middle Ages
• 1000-year period between the fall of the
Roman Empire and the Renaissance
• Medieval music reflected variety of life
• Plainchant and polyphony were important
developments
• Sounds unfamiliar, but uses same basic
elements

3. Listen to This, Third Edition
By Mark Evan Bonds
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Music for Sacred Spaces
• Churches were monuments to God
• Inspired by Gothic architecture
• Sacred music enhanced texts and inspired
worshippers
• Plainchant ideal for projecting text through
large spaces
• Music composed specially for nine daily
services

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By Mark Evan Bonds
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Music for Entertainment
• Castles were symbols of worldly power
• Courts projected political and cultural power
• Courts employed wandering minstrels, poet–
composers, and musicians
• Music captured simple pains and pleasures
of being human
• Texts could be bawdy and explicit

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Music for Dancing
• Dance was significant social activity
• Dances were group activities, accompanied
by a drummer
• Instruments of the Middle Ages different from
today’s

6. Listen to This, Third Edition
By Mark Evan Bonds
© 2015,2011,2009 Pearson Education, Inc.
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Information Technology 1.0
• Music transmitted orally until the tenth
century
• Earliest manuscripts use simple notation
• Music had to be written and copied by hand
• Ink and parchment were expensive
• Copyists worked slowly and carefully
• Manuscripts subject to deviation

7. Listen to This, Third Edition
By Mark Evan Bonds
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Hildegard von Bingen
Play of Virtues1

8. Listen to This, Third Edition
By Mark Evan Bonds
© 2015,2011,2009 Pearson Education, Inc.
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Listen to This First
Texture Listen for the single voice or multiple voices
singing the same music in unison
(monophonic texture).
Melody Listen for leaps in the mostly smooth
melodies. Listen for the brief resting points
(cadences).
Word-Music
Relationships
Note that most characters sing, but one
speaks/shouts. Notice the clear projection of
the Latin words. Listen for the climax of the
drama on the highest pitches.
Rhythm Listen for the way the irregular rhythms
reflect the words being sung.

9. Listen to This, Third Edition
By Mark Evan Bonds
© 2015,2011,2009 Pearson Education, Inc.
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Play of Virtues
• Composed: ca. 1150
• Morality play: dramatized allegory of good
and evil struggling over the fate of a single
soul
• Confrontations between Satan and 16 Virtues
(e.g., Charity, Obedience, Humility, Chastity)

10. Listen to This, Third Edition
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Play of Virtues
• Virtues associated with the female gender
• Performed by nuns at Hildegard’s convent
• Satan does not sing, but speaks his lines
• Hell was believed to be devoid of music
• Satan performed by priest assigned to the
convent

11. Listen to This, Third Edition
By Mark Evan Bonds
© 2015,2011,2009 Pearson Education, Inc.
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Historical Context
Like morality plays, some popular works today show an
innocent figure struggling between the forces of good and
evil:
Work Evil Innocent Good
Hildegard, Play of Virtues Satan The Soul, Penitent The Virtues
Tolkien, Lord of the Rings Sauron Frodo Gandalf
Lucas, Star Wars Darth Vader Luke Skywalker Jedi knights
Rowling, Harry Potter Voldemort Harry Potter Dumbledore

12. Listen to This, Third Edition
By Mark Evan Bonds
© 2015,2011,2009 Pearson Education, Inc.
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The Clarity of Monophonic Texture
• Monophonic texture allows performers to
project text clearly
• This performance adds bell sounds
• Medieval performers likely added instruments
to give variety
• Play of Virtues remains monophonic, with no
instruments for long stretches

13. Listen to This, Third Edition
By Mark Evan Bonds
© 2015,2011,2009 Pearson Education, Inc.
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The Clarity of Monophonic Texture
• Monophonic texture typical of plainchant
• Plainchant also called Gregorian chant
(Pope Gregory I allegedly wrote most of it in
the late sixth century)
• Function: to project the text clearly and to
enhance its meaning
• Possessed clarity and melodic beauty; thus it
was inspirational

14. Listen to This, Third Edition
By Mark Evan Bonds
© 2015,2011,2009 Pearson Education, Inc.
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Medieval Melody
• Melodic phrases often begin with upward
leap (disjunct motion)
• Phrases then descend gradually by steps
(conjunct motion)
• Melodic contour reflects structure of text
• Phrases end on a musical resting point
(cadence)

15. Listen to This, Third Edition
By Mark Evan Bonds
© 2015,2011,2009 Pearson Education, Inc.
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Medieval Melody
• “Otherworldly” sound due to medieval modes
• Modes: scales with patterns different from
today’s major and minor scales
• Believed to be derived from ancient Greek
music
• Hildegard’s Play of Virtues based on Dorian
mode (white notes from D to D on piano)

16. Listen to This, Third Edition
By Mark Evan Bonds
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Projecting Words through Music
• Two ways to set words to music
– Syllabic: one note per syllable (provides
clarity of text)
– Melismatic: many notes per syllable
(provides emphasis to key words)
• Hildegard provides variety by mixing syllabic
and melismatic settings
• Extremes of register emphasize dramatic
moments

17. Listen to This, Third Edition
By Mark Evan Bonds
© 2015,2011,2009 Pearson Education, Inc.
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Free Rhythm
• No one knows how plainchant was performed
• Two approaches
– Free: length of individual notes determined
by length of syllables in the words
– Measured: individual notes would be
grouped into a consistent meter
• This performance uses a free approach

18. Listen to This, Third Edition
By Mark Evan Bonds
© 2015,2011,2009 Pearson Education, Inc.
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Hildegard von Bingen
• Most prolific composer before 1500
• Born to a noble family in present-day western
Germany
• Became a Benedictine nun at age of 16
• Had visions and revelations
• Wrote on theology, medicine, botany, and lives of
saints
• Musical works consisted of chants for religious
services, which took place throughout the day in the
convent

19. Listen to This, Third Edition
By Mark Evan Bonds
© 2015,2011,2009 Pearson Education, Inc.
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Monophony
Find a piece that contains
monophonic texture.
Example: Pink, “So What” (2008)
In the very opening of the song, and in
each of its verses, all the instruments
play the same melody as the voice,
creating monophonic texture.
Connect Your Playlist

20. Listen to This, Third Edition
By Mark Evan Bonds
© 2015,2011,2009 Pearson Education, Inc.
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San Ildefonso Indians
of New Mexico
Eagle Dance
2

21. Listen to This, Third Edition
By Mark Evan Bonds
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Listen to This First
Texture Notice that all voices sing in unison, singing
one melodic line together throughout.
Rhythm Listen for the change from free rhythm to
duple meter later on.
Melody Listen for the consistently downward
contour of each melodic unit.
Form Listen for the repetition of large-scale
selections of the chant.

22. Listen to This, Third Edition
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Eagle Dance
• Traditional; recorded: ca. 1951
• Monophonic chant essential to sacred ritual
• Chant predominant form of Native North
American Indian music; heard at powwows
• Portrays life cycle of eagle (connected
heaven and earth)

23. Listen to This, Third Edition
By Mark Evan Bonds
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Texture: Monophony
• Single melodic line, male voices in unison
• Most Native American music is monophonic,
accompanied by percussion
• Percussion instruments punctuate rhythm of
the chant

24. Listen to This, Third Edition
By Mark Evan Bonds
© 2015,2011,2009 Pearson Education, Inc.
All Rights Reserved
Free versus Metered Rhythm
• Opening section in free rhythm
• Bulk of chant in duple meter
• Occasional change in tempo (speed of the
music) does not alter underlying rhythm

25. Listen to This, Third Edition
By Mark Evan Bonds
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Melodic Contour
• Melodic units consistently move downward
• Typical of North American Indian chant
melodies
• Songs believed to come from spirit world
• Use vocables (meaningless sung syllables)
• Requires careful memorization

26. Listen to This, Third Edition
By Mark Evan Bonds
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Form: ABA
• Three sections, ABA
• Each section has own melody, built of
smaller, repeating units
• Varied order of vocables creates contrast
• In our day, operas are in English
• Difficult to translate foreign-language operas
into another language
• Opera houses use supertitles to help
listeners understand the words

27. Listen to This, Third Edition
By Mark Evan Bonds
© 2015,2011,2009 Pearson Education, Inc.
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The Powwow
• Pan-Indian culture replaced tribal traditions
• Preserves culture against outside influences
• Includes dancing, singing, storytelling, crafts,
socializing, and contests
• Begins with a “Grand Entry”
• Traditional songs accompany dances

28. Listen to This, Third Edition
By Mark Evan Bonds
© 2015,2011,2009 Pearson Education, Inc.
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Vocables
Find a piece that uses vocables to
imitate a melodic instrument.
Example: Bobby McFerrin, “Don’t
Worry, Be Happy” (1988)
In this song, a #1 pop hit, pop/jazz
vocalist Bobby McFerrin uses vocables
to imitate the sound of a funky bass
and a synthesizer, among other
instruments.
Connect Your Playlist

29. Listen to This, Third Edition
By Mark Evan Bonds
© 2015,2011,2009 Pearson Education, Inc.
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Francesco Landini
“Behold, Spring”3

30. Listen to This, Third Edition
By Mark Evan Bonds
© 2015,2011,2009 Pearson Education, Inc.
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Listen to This First
Texture Listen to the contrast between the melodies
of the two voices, one high, one low.
Rhythm Feel the regular pulse of three beats, with
the first accented.
Melody Listen for the stepwise motion in both
voices, and notice the brief stopping points
that break the melody into smaller units.
Form Listen for the repetition of large-scale units.
Word-Music
Relationships
Notice the largely syllabic text setting (one
note per syllable) and the occasional
melismatic setting (multiple notes sung to a
single syllable).

31. Listen to This, Third Edition
By Mark Evan Bonds
© 2015,2011,2009 Pearson Education, Inc.
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“Behold, Spring”
• Composed: ca. 1350–1397
• Based on love poetry
• Two-voice ballata—genre of secular song
based in dance
• Courtly love—stylized interactions between
knight and lady

32. Listen to This, Third Edition
By Mark Evan Bonds
© 2015,2011,2009 Pearson Education, Inc.
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Rich Polyphonic Texture
• Polyphony—two or more voices of equal
importance combine and retain their own
identities
• Emerged around eighth or ninth century
• Usually based on existing liturgical melody
• Composers like Landini wrote secular
polyphony against new, original melodies

33. Listen to This, Third Edition
By Mark Evan Bonds
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Rhythm: The Pulse of Meter
• Free rhythm of monophony difficult in
polyphony
• Triple meter organizes the song
• Music falls into consistent units of three beats

34. Listen to This, Third Edition
By Mark Evan Bonds
© 2015,2011,2009 Pearson Education, Inc.
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Units of Melody
• Conjunct (stepwise) melodies subdivided
into smaller units
• Smaller units end with a cadence (brief
stopping point at which the music pauses)
• Smaller units make music easy to understand

35. Listen to This, Third Edition
By Mark Evan Bonds
© 2015,2011,2009 Pearson Education, Inc.
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Form: Turning Poetry into Music
• Form of text shapes form of work
• Consists of three strophes or stanzas
• Last strophe repeated at end: ABAA
• Repetition, variation, and contrast basic to all
musical forms

36. Listen to This, Third Edition
By Mark Evan Bonds
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Syllabic versus Melismatic
• Largely syllabic
• Occasional melismas create variety
• Syllabic setting allows text to project clearly

37. Listen to This, Third Edition
By Mark Evan Bonds
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Producing a Manuscript
• Every musical document written by hand
• Manuscripts expensive to produce
• Squarcialupi Codex consists of parchment,
gold leaf, and miniature portraits
• Each manuscript created for, funded, and
enjoyed by a single individual

38. Listen to This, Third Edition
By Mark Evan Bonds
© 2015,2011,2009 Pearson Education, Inc.
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Francesco Landini
• Most famous and prolific Italian composer of the
fourteenth century
• Blinded at young age by smallpox
• Also known as organist and poet
• Poet–composers common during Middle Ages
• Wrote more than 150 secular songs
• Lavishly praised by contemporaries

39. Listen to This, Third Edition
By Mark Evan Bonds
© 2015,2011,2009 Pearson Education, Inc.
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Melismas
Find a piece that makes prominent
use of melismas.
Example: Mariah Carey, “Always Be
My Baby” (1995)
Mariah Carey’s vocal line features
extended melismas.
Connect Your Playlist

40. Listen to This, Third Edition
By Mark Evan Bonds
© 2015,2011,2009 Pearson Education, Inc.
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Guillaume de Machaut
“I Call All Too Well
Compare My Lady”
4

41. Listen to This, Third Edition
By Mark Evan Bonds
© 2015,2011,2009 Pearson Education, Inc.
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Listen to This First
Texture This is a polyphonic work for three equally
important voices. Listen for the contrast in
speed between the notes of the faster
uppermost voice and the notes of the slower
two voices below.
Melody Listen for the cadences—points of rest in
the music—within the melody.
Form Listen for the repetition of large units of
music. The music of the opening section is
repeated to new words, and the closing
section presents a contrasting melodic idea.

42. Listen to This, Third Edition
By Mark Evan Bonds
© 2015,2011,2009 Pearson Education, Inc.
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“I Can All Too Well Compare My Lady”
• Composed: ca. 1350
• Medieval love song
• Courtly love emphasized romantic distance
• Woman remains statue-like toward her suitor

43. Listen to This, Third Edition
By Mark Evan Bonds
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The Myth of Pygmalion
• Artist creates and falls in love with a work that
comes to life
• Told and retold throughout the ages:
– George Bernard Shaw, Pygmalion (1913)
– Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe, My
Fair Lady (1956)
– Weird Science (1985)
– She’s All That (1999)

44. Listen to This, Third Edition
By Mark Evan Bonds
© 2015,2011,2009 Pearson Education, Inc.
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Three-Voice Texture
• Each voice presents a different melodic line
• Uppermost voice most active and distinctive
• Lower two voices move slower
• Three voices fill out the texture

45. Listen to This, Third Edition
By Mark Evan Bonds
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A Melody Punctuated by Cadences
• Five cadences punctuate upper voice’s
melody
• Equivalent of periods that divide sentences
• Cadences articulate ends and beginnings of
melodic sections

46. Listen to This, Third Edition
By Mark Evan Bonds
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AAB Form
• Text consists of four sentences
• First 2 sentences use same idea twice (AA)
• Last 2 sentences use new idea once (B)
• AAB is a common form in music of many
times and places

47. Listen to This, Third Edition
By Mark Evan Bonds
© 2015,2011,2009 Pearson Education, Inc.
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Historical Context: The Mass
• Central service in Roman Catholic Church
• Reenactment of Christ’s Last Supper
• Many prayers and hymns “proper” to specific
week or feast day
• Constant elements constitute the Ordinary
• Guillaume de Machaut’s “Messe de Nostre
Dame” first polyphonic setting of Mass
Ordinary by one composer

48. Listen to This, Third Edition
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Guillaume de Machaut
• Both a poet and composer
• Traveled through northern Europe
• Served various monarchs
• Appointed canon at Cathedral of Rheims in 1335
• At end of life, supervised the copying of his
complete works in six volumes

49. Listen to This, Third Edition
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Three-Voice Texture
Find any work or extended passage
for three voices.
Example: Kingston Trio, “M.T.A.” (1957)
This song, made popular by the
Kingston Trio’s recording, features
three-part texture throughout.
Connect Your Playlist

50. Listen to This, Third Edition
By Mark Evan Bonds
© 2015,2011,2009 Pearson Education, Inc.
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Alfonso el Sabio
Songs to the Virgin Mary,
no. 249, “He Who
Gladly Serves”
5

51. Listen to This, Third Edition
By Mark Evan Bonds
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Listen to This First
Timbre Listen for the contrast between the
percussion instruments (two drums) and
the wind instruments (two shawms).
Form Listen for the alternation of long sections
with and without the soloist.
Texture Listen for three distinct textures of the
shawms:
1. Monophony
2. Homophony
3. Heterophony

52. Listen to This, Third Edition
By Mark Evan Bonds
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“He Who Gladly Serves”
• Composed: late thirteenth century
• Little instrumental music survives from Middle
Ages
• Music performed with whatever was at hand
• Medieval timbres could be vivid and intense
• Songs of the Virgin Mary attributed to Alfonso
el Sabio

53. Listen to This, Third Edition
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The Sound of Double Reeds
• Shawm—double-reed instrument (player
blows between a pair of cane strips)
• Vibrating air produces reedy, nasal sound
• Disappeared from Europe after the
Renaissance
• Related to the modern oboe

54. Listen to This, Third Edition
By Mark Evan Bonds
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Form: Repetition and Contrast
• Two fairly short melodic units
• Form arises from their repetition and contrast
• A and B begin similarly, but soon diverge

55. Listen to This, Third Edition
By Mark Evan Bonds
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Three Kinds of Texture
1. Monophony—both instruments play the
same notes together, in unison
2. Homophony—one instrument plays the
melody, the other a drone bass
3. Heterophony—both instruments play the
same melody at the same time, but one of
them plays a more elaborate and
embellished form

56. Listen to This, Third Edition
By Mark Evan Bonds
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Performance: Reed Instruments
• Blowing into the mouthpiece sets a reed into
motion
• The reed (vibrating cane) produces the
instrument’s distinctive sound
• Double-reed instruments (oboe, bassoon,
shawm) produce slightly “buzzy” sound
• Single-reed instruments (clarinet, saxophone)
produce slightly “wooly” sound
• Best musicians make their own reeds

57. Listen to This, Third Edition
By Mark Evan Bonds
© 2015,2011,2009 Pearson Education, Inc.
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Alfonso el Sabio
• The moving force behind the Songs of the Virgin
Mary
• Probably wrote only a few songs himself
• Commissioned works in many fields (literature,
philosophy, theology)
• Many medieval artists anonymous
• Many composers were monks, priests, or nuns

58. Listen to This, Third Edition
By Mark Evan Bonds
© 2015,2011,2009 Pearson Education, Inc.
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Instrumental Timbre
Find an instrumental version of a
piece that originally had lyrics.
Example: John Coltrane, “My Favorite
Things” (1961)
A number of jazz instrumental
“standards” began as vocal music.
John Coltrane borrowed the song “My
Favorite Things” from the musical The
Sound of Music (1959) by Richard
Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein.
Connect Your Playlist

59. Listen to This, Third Edition
By Mark Evan Bonds
© 2015,2011,2009 Pearson Education, Inc.
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Plainchant Alleluia
“Caro Mea” from the
Mass for the Feast
of Corpus Christi
1
eText
Bonus

60. Listen to This, Third Edition
By Mark Evan Bonds
© 2015,2011,2009 Pearson Education, Inc.
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Listen to This First
Timbre Listen for the contrast between the soloist (a
single voice) and the chorus (many voices,
all singing in unison).
Texture Listen for the monophonic texture
throughout. No matter how many voices are
singing, there is never more than one
melodic line.
Melody Listen for sections of the melody that repeat
or return over the course of the entire chant.
Word-Music
Relationships
Listen for the difference between syllables
that are sung to a single note and those that
are sung to many notes.

61. Listen to This, Third Edition
By Mark Evan Bonds
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Plainchant Alleluia, “Caro mea”
• Composed: ca. 1275
• Composer unknown, probably a monk or
priest
• Plainchant integral to medieval church
• Mass for the Feast of Corpus Christi features
Ordinary and Proper elements

62. Listen to This, Third Edition
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Timbre
• Responsorial chant—alternates between
soloist and chorus
• Soloist then chorus sing “Alleluia”
• Soloist sings two biblical verses
• Chorus repeats “Alleluia”
• Call-and-response found in religious music
throughout the world

63. Listen to This, Third Edition
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Texture
• Unison texture throughout
• Never more than one melodic line
• Men’s voices sing exactly the same notes

64. Listen to This, Third Edition
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Melody
• Floating quality projects across large spaces
of church
• “Alleluia” repeats 4 times
• Two biblical verse provide contrast

65. Listen to This, Third Edition
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Word-Music Relationships
• Singing words does more than reciting them
• Helps bring together and project the words
• Melismas heighten expression of text
• Register sets into relief key words

66. Listen to This, Third Edition
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Performance: Chilling to Chant
• Plainchant enhances meditation, prayer, and
devotion
• Common to many world religions
• Creates sense of calm and well-being
• Scientists only beginning to understand
physiological factors at work

67. Listen to This, Third Edition
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Call-and-Response
Find a piece in which a solo singer
or instrumentalist “calls” and then
receives a “response” from a
larger group.
Example: The Isley Brothers, “(You
Make Me Wanna) Shout” (1959)
This song features a lead singer who
commands the chorus and/or audience
to follow his lead.
Connect Your Playlist

68. Listen to This, Third Edition
By Mark Evan Bonds
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Music of the Middle Ages
Texture Both monophonic and polyphonic
Melody Flowing, largely conjunct, divided into sections by
cadences; melodies based on scales of the
medieval modes
Rhythm Free (plainchant) and metrically structured
Harmony A by-product of counterpoint

69. Listen to This, Third Edition
By Mark Evan Bonds
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Music of the Middle Ages
Form Based on repetition, variation, and contrast
Word-Music
Relationships
Syllabic settings to project texts clearly;
melismatic settings to emphasize key words.

70. Listen to This, Third Edition
By Mark Evan Bonds
© 2015,2011,2009 Pearson Education, Inc.
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In Review: Medieval Style
Monophony A single melodic line, whether sung by a solo
voice or by a choir in unison. This was the
essential texture of plainchant, the earliest music
of Christian worship.
Polyphony Two or more different melodic lines performed
simultaneously. This texture was used in both
sacred and secular music.
Heterophony Two voices singing the same melody
simultaneously but with different embellishments.

71. Listen to This, Third Edition
By Mark Evan Bonds
© 2015,2011,2009 Pearson Education, Inc.
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In Review: Medieval Style
Syllabic or
melismatic
text setting
Text set to one note per syllable or multiple notes
per syllable.
Metered
rhythm
Rhythm structured around a fixed metrical pattern,
allowing polyphonic voices to coordinate.
Instrumental
music
Medieval performers could and did play vocal
music on a variety of different instruments, such
as the shawm.