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. 

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sK7riqg2mr4

Song: Agar Tum Saath Ho

Artists: Alka Yagnik and Arjit Singh

Music: AR Rahman 

Lyrics: Irshad Kamil

Music Label: T-Series

Genre: Bollywood

Relationship: I grew up watching Indian Movies and listening to Indian Music. It is a part of who I am and my culture. In my opinion, this song, instrumentally and vocally, is very breathtaking, complex, and emotional. 

Musical Element #1: Melody 

The third verse of this song is something I can’t stop singing or humming. There is so much that is happening instrumentally and vocally, that you are taken aback by what you’re listening to. The melody here follows disjunct (the melody ascends and then descends and then ascends and so forth) [You hear it in the violins especially]. This whole song in general is a combination of music that makes you feel pain/sadness but also love at the same time. Two very contrasting emotions and feelings of music. The singer’s voice, however, in this section, is performing in the conjunct method (gradually ascending and then gradually descending). For every line he sings, he starts off low, and towards the end, you hear the stress of when he’s hitting the high note. This pattern continues into the next line and so on and so forth. 

Musical Element #2: Timbre (Tone Color)

Again, I’ll reference the third verse because I feel like it is a good representation of the main elements of music. Timbre refers to the distinctive quality of a voice or an instrument. In the third verse, the male singer’s voice is overlapped. He is singing the same lines but on two different scales (a series of pitches, ordered by the interval between its notes) and pitches (a tone that is composed of an organized sound wave). In one voice, he is singing calmly and in the other, he is singing in agony, very representative of the roller coaster of emotions that the characters experience in the movie. One of which is in a high tone and the other which is in a low tone. It is significant because it portrays the emotions that the people involved in making the song want the audience to feel. They want the viewer to go through the journey with the character. 

When hearing of the Romantic Era (1820-1900), instruments such as the harp and violin would come to mind. The most interesting thing I learned is how inspiration for music was taken not only from aspects associated with dreams or love, but also from categories that are considered dark and negative. For example, according to the “Excerpt from Music: Its Language, History, and Culture,” by Douglas Cohen, Cohen writes, “… they [the romantics of the 19th century] were fascinated by subjects associated with dreams (Goya’s The Dream of Reason), oppression, injustice, and political struggle (novels of Dickens, Victor Hugo’s Les Miserable ), the macabre (stories of Edgar Allen Poe), and death (poems of Emily Dickinson)” (29). I originally thought that because this is the “romantic” era, people would look at aspects of love and happiness to compose music, but once learning about how inspiration was also taken from dark forms of society (such as oppression and death), it opened a new perspective for me.

After listening to Nicolo Paganini’s Caprice No. 24, the music sounds like how it was described in the textbook. In Paganini’s music, I felt a sense of sorrow and sometimes fear. Also, while listening, I could feel that it included aspects in the excerpt written by Cohen, such as “restlessness, longing, and unhappy love relationships” (29).

It was interesting to me how the Renaissance, being a time of rebirth, went back in time to the ideas of the ancient Greeks and Romans to influence their music and art. I had already known before jumping into the reading that instrumental music at the time wasn’t something composers were exploring with enthusiasm. The textbook describes the music of the Renaissance Era as mainly vocal, with the emergence of the four major voice parts: Soprano, Alto, Tenor, and Bass. There was a “new emphasis on harmonious sonorities” and “evolved… concepts of consonance and dissonance…” (Cohan, pg. 20)

I chose to listen to Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina because the reading said he was referred to as “The Prince of Music” (Cohen, pg. 22) and I wanted to know if that meant his music was regal-sounding. I listened to Palestrina’s “Missa Papae Marcelli” and upon hearing the words “Kyrie Eleison,” I ended up mixing it up with Josquin des Prés’ “Missa Pange Lingua,” a piece that I had already heard beforehand. So, it’s safe to say I came in expecting music that sounded like it would’ve been played during a church service.

One of the many historical periods of western art music that is widely recognized by various individuals throughout the span of time would be European Art music: Classical, which was also known as the Enlightenment Period. During this time, it consisted of “classicists” who wanted to achieve being able to express and share a vast amount of universal beauty ideas, as well as through the use of their idealized forms in their artwork with others. The 18th century was known as the age of reason solely due to a variety of individuals such as Voltaire, Diderot, and Lessing who went on to write about “the ideals of reason, objectivity, and scientific knowledge” which they would go on to spread throughout both “european society and culture”. This includes other well-known individuals such as Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, and Ben Franklin who agreed on the topic of natural rights for individuals rather than that of state rights. Thus this led up to the American Revolution and French Revolution taking place, and so forth.  Furthermore, during this classical period it resulted in composers discarding what they once knew and moving toward learning “compositional techniques such as fugal imitation, and grandeur in favor of transparent textures, a single melody supported by a subordinate accompaniment, and somewhat superficial sentiments.” It had become an important time when performers began to expand their orchestra from about “thirty or forty players”. This led to the orchestra receiving positive feedback from the public after each concert. 

When it comes to the classical historical period, what I find most interesting is that when the orchestra decided to increase the number of performers they would used to strengthen their sound. I find this interesting because compared to the smaller orchestra they possibly had before it’s compelling to see how they wanted to expand the number of instruments used and the increased amount of support they had gotten from the public. Even before having the ability to read the information within the article I was not really knowledgeable about this time period regarding the classical music era. The textbook describes the classical music from this period as switching to a new way of doing music and different styles compared to earlier classical music and mature classical music. For example, the article, states “composers of the early classical period discarded complex textures, learned compositional techniques such as fugal imitation, and grandeur in favor of transparent textures, a single melody supported by a subordinate accompaniment, and somewhat superficial sentiment”.  While “In the mature classical style of Haydn, Mozart, and early Beethoven, counterpoint, processes of rigorous development, and depth of expression reappear, but in the context of classical ideals of clarity, proportion, and refined taste.” The music did sound like what I had expected from the textbook and to my own knowledge. It sounded like a soft melody for many of them but would lead up to a more intense tune and back to a soothing sound for the three different songs. For example, Surprise by Franz Joseph Haydn, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart – Piano Concerto, and Beethoven- Moonlight Sonata. 

The Renaissance

I always thought the Renaissance to be a particularly interesting era. It always stood out as that one era of incredible whimsical arts along with new technological advancements, yet was still under the ruling of religion and divine belief. It’s sort of a weird child between the Middle Ages and the enlightenment. That’s why I think the most interesting thing about this era is how different people were and what they created. I’d imagine the people of this era to be artists, scientists, and musicians, but still under the confides of religion and the clergy. I always imagined this era to be one where everyone started to have different ideas, and just made/discover things that showed how different they are. From the paintings painted, to the new music composed, to new sciences discovered. 

From what I already know, this period is one of expression, but through work/passion rather than words. Since religion still played a really powerful role in governing people, many weren’t able to truly express themselves without consequences from the clergy. With scientists like Galileo discovering that they weren’t at the center of the universe or homosexuals being ostracized, society as a whole was going through a weird transformation, or being reborn. It’s supposed to be an era when people focused more on people, and started to turn away from the divine. 

The textbook describes the music during this era to “embody ideals of balance, clarity, and emotional restraint that characterize the classicism of the Greeks”. The textbook also describes the music of this era as secular and sacred. This era consisted mostly of vocals as the primary form of music and instrumental as secondary. The music sounds very similar to the church hymns during the Middle Ages, and the harmonizing of the singers are meant to have an angelic effect. In addition, much of the music created was still funded by royalty or the elite. 

I listened to two pieces from William Byrd (1543-1623), “O Lord turn thy Wrath” and “Teach me,O Lord”. The music definitely sounds like what I expected from this era. Like I expected there weren’t many instrumentals and most of the music was sung by a group of singers. From an untrained ear one would also definitely think this would be something played in a church, and for the most part many of this era’s music were still produced in churches. So the examples I heard from Byrd definitely fit the mold of what I thought renaissance music would sound like. 

The Medieval period was commonly referred to as the “dark ages” or the “Middle Ages”. The medieval period took place between (450 to 1450). During the Medieval period Christianity was widely spread, and therefore most of the music was heavily influenced by churches, and the monasteries. Along with musical developments, the medieval period was known for having some technological upgrades such as the creation of the printing press. Different types of art were also a main aspect in the medieval period such as sculptures, stained glass, and mosaics. In the text, an aspect I found interesting was the way of life during the Middle Ages. To add on, life during the medieval times was very harsh, and people were broken up into categories such as peasants and the noblemen. I listened to a music piece by Francesco Landini, and the music was how I expected it to sound. The music sounded very church like and seems like it’s something that would be sung in church. I expected this outcome because monasteries and churches had a major influence during the medieval period.