I need a bit of help here. I’ve had a lot to do lately, and it’s been hard to keep track of everything. There was one thing I sort of forgot in the middle of everything. We have a little study group thing in school and my group was assigned to medieval music. I’m supposed to be able to talk a bit about the music that was played in the noble and royal courts of that time. The problem is that I should be ready tomorrow.
Does anyone have any good resources or knows a lot and has time to write a little bit here, just so I can study up just a bit tonight and avoid looking like a complete fool tomorrow?
Depends on how braod your definition of “medieval” is. If you use the wide-angle definition, anything into the mid-16th century could be construed as medieval. That could get you into Elizabethan music.
If you want, say, 12th century medieval, researching troubadours and/or minnesingers (The German equivalent) would be a good way to go.
Wormdiet, I think we’re including the renaissance as well. So, maybe from the fall of the Roman empire to the 16th century.
I know it’s probably a huge field. I think I’ll be fine with some basics.
I’ll have to stay in the field of music that was played in the courts. Others in my group handle religious chanting and the more folky stuff.
I’ll try to google around a bit. All help is still appreciated
I guess one big question that will help us help you is: What course is this for?
If it’s for a music class, you’ll need to be pretty accurate, I’d imagine, but if it’s for a history class, and you’re trying to put a musical perspective on things, you may be able to fudge something and pull one over on your prof.
BTW - is this high school or university?
Well. It’s a mixture of both I guess. The course is Culture History. My group will probably play a bit of medieval music as well, although we haven’t rehearsed anything yet :S The most important thing however is that I can talk a bit about the court music. I don’t think I need to be extremely accurate.
It’s not university. The Swedish education system is a bit different from the American. It’s the gymnasium, which, as far as I’ve understood is more like your College.
I’d do an extremely quick/dirty overview of the different eras, then zoom in and go specific on the one that appeals to you the most.
Elizabethan stuff is fantastic, but can require a bit of rehearsal to pull off. 4-part voice leading and such. Troubadour stuff is much more akin to folk music, so it might be a good niche to zone in on. Of course, there are many options othe than those two.
Apperently, I’ll have to write a few lines about it as well. If anyone has anything they think might be a little usefull, please post. I’ll start writing now but I’ll check up here once in a while. I should be in bed withing an hour
A few years back I had some students play pop songs in arranged various genres of music. They got a “baroque” feel at the appropriate time, and a “Mozartian” thing going decently, but when they played medieval, it sounded totally flat and. . . bizarre. They had done plenty of reading about medieval musical trends but hadn’t bothered to actually hear any examples of it, and it showed in their compositions.
Just like Irish music, the key to playing is listening.
Thought I should let you all know that it worked out fine in the end. I researched a bit on wikipedia and wrote down a just a few words as backup, then I spoke for about 5-10 minutes, a little bit about trubadours, travelling bands and different trends in medieval music that I read about on wiki. Now I’ll just take those words and write down approximately what I said, it should be in in two days time. So I think it went alright.
