The Medieval time period also known as the “Middle Ages” took place from 450 to 1450. This period in history was heavily influenced by religion. Christianity began to spread wildly during the Medieval period and the music at this time could be considered similar to chants and songs that were sung in religious places. Something that I found interesting was stated in packet #1 “The chants sung in the services, some of them of ancient origin, were passed on through oral tradition, undoubtedly undergoing changes in the process”. The Christians had difficulty passing down the passed traditions and because of this problem, they would later create the basis of staff lines and spaces which is something we still use today. It is considered one of the greatest achievements in human history. I listened to a song by Guillaume Dufay who was a major figure in this period “https://youtu.be/6mcxEtyEUw4”. The song sounded very majestic and echoed through my headphones. I was very surprised as it truly felt like I was listening to someone singing in a church.

Reading about the Baroque period I find it really interesting that people took violence and war as inspiration to create art. When I think of the word art I think of something elegant and beautiful, the opposite of what was going on during that period. The fact that people were still able to take from such a dark time and create something alluring and loved by the public is amazing to me. To be honest I didn’t even know that this time period existed before reading this text so not much. The textbook described the music as emotional with varieties of emotions such as anger, love, joy, and grief. It also mentioned how musicians would like to have strong contrasting effects. One of the effects being loud and soft. I love that they did this because as someone who has a short attention span,I’d rather listen to something that keeps me on my feet than listening to something that is repetitive.

Listening to Magnificat by Claudio Monteverdi, an Italian composer of Orfeo of 1607, I’m hearing exactly what I’d expect from someone who said they were an opera. The fact that he’s considered as the first great opera already shows that he’s going to have a huge impact on opera performers at that time and in the future. It’s no surprise that his music is exactly what I’d expect from an opera singer.

The time period of music that was assigned to me was Baroque (ca. 1600-1750). What drew my attention the most about this time period was how important it was to the growth of England, and a bunch of Italian city-states. The Baroque period was when England first started to separate itself from religion and from the church. The people wanted to learn new things, and this became the famous time period that we know as the Renaissance. But during the baroque, many can say was when people started preparing for the shift the age of the Renaissance would cause. The baroque is a time period that many overlook, I know this because the Renaissance holds such great importance in the whole outcome of Europe. If it wasn’t for philosophers in the baroque time period religious conflicts would’ve never erupted. Without conflict, the people would’ve never wanted a change in the lifestyle they were used to. The reading packet describes music from this time period as a romantic expression. During this time period the music we know today as opera, oratorio, cantata, Concerto, fugue, Sonata, and suite were discovered. Another big accomplishment from this time period was the creation of songs for a solo voice, before this time period typically instrumental or acapella. In this time period music began to change from being strictly for the church and about religion to about emotions. From the reading packet, I choose to listen to Jean Baptiste Lully’s music because it caught my eye that he was a composer who dominated music in the court of Louis XIV. After listening to his song “Miserere” from 1664 the music reminds me of opera music without strong vocal power. From the reading, his song is something I expected music from this time period to sound like because it sounds sad while also sounding powerful. This supports the idea that the baroque time period was just the start of the Renaissance. The sadness in the song shows how Europe was before they became educated with ideas outside of the church’s beliefs, while the powerful parts of the song shows how they are ready for new ideas.

The song I decided to choose was the song called “Sunroof”. The song is of the pop genre and the artists who sing it are Nicky Youre and Dazy. The song established itself in the top 10 of Billboard 100 and placed itself at number six. I happened to discover this song randomly on social media while I was scrolling through some videos. While listening to the song I noticed it had a very good rhythm, a catchy melody, and lyrics that were easy to remember and sing along to. The overall vibe of the song was very energetic and perfect for summer. It wasn’t heavy or overbearing and instead let you relax and follow the flow of the song. Another factor of the song I liked was its genre. I like pop songs and this is what probably led me to gravitate toward it and pique my interest. The lyrics and melody were so catchy it was stuck in my head for the day and let it establish itself as a hot song. Two musical elements I noticed in the song are harmony and texture. In the song, I chose I noticed it had a thin texture were only a few instruments playing, or there were only one or two melodies and harmonies. As supposed to having a heavy texture where there are many instruments playing. As for the harmony, I believe it went together and was well-balanced. The song was balanced and didn’t seem to have components that were overbearing. A musically interesting moment in the song is the melody and the pitch of the song. To start off the song has a mixture of low and high pitches. The song is in a low pitch for the most part of the song but rises in pitch as the song goes toward the chorus. The chorus portion of the song has a higher pitch than the other portion of the song which is very. The song also incorporates hums into the melody during some portions of the song. The incorporation of the hums is well blended into the song and doesn’t seem distracting. It is also not very noticeable as it is well incorporated into the rest of the melody. This was interesting as I haven’t heard many songs that use hums but rather use instruments to create these noises. It was refreshing to see new techniques being used and outside of my knowledge.