July 1953 School Magazine

July, 1953

Br is bane Girls' Grammar School Magazine

July , 1953

Brisbane Girls' Grammar School Magazine

MUSIC IN THE MIDDLE AGES The two primitive forms of musical expression are Song and Dance. The one is primarily melodic, the other primarily Rhythmic. European music began to emerge ·from its purely Melodic- Rhythmic phase only about the year 600, and did not develop the Harmonic in any very artistic way until about 1400-1500, in the period of the Renaissance. . Thus the Middle Ages marks the transition of music from the primitive form to the beginnings of music in the form which we know today. The Psalms were sung in Solomon's Temple to pure Mel- ody, and nobody ever thought of singing them in even the most rudimentary form of Harmony until almost the time of Charlemagne. When the idea of Harmony did come into the world, it grew out of the difficulties of the churchmen in singing the psalms and hymns of the church in unison, with a body of singers whose voices were neither all tenor nor all bass .

In this, apparently, a practical inconvenience a t last be- gan to receive attention. The first means of removing the in- convenience that suggested itself was the simplest and most obvious-the voices, divided according to natural range, chant- ed the Plainsong in parallel lines at two pitches (five notes apart) . From this it was a short stage, (though in reality it proved a long one), to the more sophisticated idea of leaving the Plain- song to one part (the Tenor or hold ing part), a nd a llowing the others to circle around it, weaving a polyphonic web of sound. A further stage abandoned the Plainsong altogether, and thus completely original harmonised music came into existence -free harmonic settings of the Canticles and the various parts of the Mass, substituted for the former traditional melodic set- tings. The process was carried over into secular music a nd so came into existence the Madrigal. The Masses and Mad- rigals of Palestrina (1525-1594) in Italy, Byrd and others in England, and Vittorio (1535-1 611) in Spain, mark the climax of this period of unaccompanied woven choral music. From the first g limmerings of the idea that a number of differently p itched voices, singing together in a choir, might be provided with d ifferent parts to sing suited to their own natural ranges of voice, to the culmination of the effort to pro- vide for them a music that should be beautiful and expressive, there was a period of about one thousand years (600- 1600). Obviously an essentia l for the development of choral music was a practical notation. Unisonous Song (tha t is, song which is sung to pure Me lody) could be handed down tradi tion- a lly and taught by ear; Choral Song required accurate and detailed written record. A means of providing such record was not easily found, and the slow evolution of notation natur- ally acted as a brake upon the wheel of musical progress. -J. T-J. V. A

TAME GULL I 'll not deceive myself. He comes because

Lean hunger drives him to the haunts of men,

And not because a kindred spirit draws

His beauty to this narrow ledge again. On white winged strength he wheels beyond the glass A fluttering cloud, descends upon the sill . Too proud to cry, he waits for me to pass His daily d o le , not doubting that [ will; Then gobbles it voraciously, his neck Distended by the measure of his greed. He will not thank me for a single speck, l know, and yet l cannot help but feed The least of these by whom my soul was fed When it had need of beauty more than bread

HOLIDAY FUN

-A. TABKE, IV. D

GABRIELLE ROWE, V .

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