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| Greek Music: Its History Of Development | | Date Added: August 24, 2010 10:23:38 AM |
| MUSIC is an art form which reflects social and cultural structures. If the society or the culture of a particular area is degenerating, it will be reflected in the music of that place immediately. Likewise, when the society or the culture is flourishing, the music will also thrive. Hence, music has a major office in the tracing the past of a country.
The music world owes much to the Ancient Greeks. In fact, the word "music" is derived from the 9 muses of Ancient Greece, who were goddesses controlling the arts and sciences. Present-day musicians refer to their muse, which is someone who has an effect on another person's creative work. Different musical terms, such as melody, tune, rhythm and others originated from Greek. However, when Ancient Greece fell, Greek music stopped developing for a few centuries until it was revived in the 19th century.
It is said that Greeks considered music a way of worshipping God. Music was also an important of their social life. It was played on all kinds of social occasions. Since drama was also popular in Greece, music was used when drama was staged.
It is normally believed that Greek music did not have harmony. It was mainly sung by one vocalist and not by a choir as is ordinarily seen in Greek plays. Ancient musicians strictly followed the laws of music and didn't mix one form with another. The rules were so strict that the audience or listeners were not permitted to applaud. The aim of musical shows was not to entertain but to teach ordinary people.
Pythagoras was the first to launch the use of numbers to mark musical scales which he discovered when studying the differences in sound frequencies of varied length strings of musical instrument. This concept was introduced to Ancient Greek Music. Hence, Pythagoras became the father of music theory. Most musical works were monophonic. Thus, they were quire similar. But when musicians started experimenting, some experts like Plato showed disapproval.
These days Greek music is made up of folk and Eastern and Western tendencies. |
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