Transcript Ancient Greece and Music

Ancient Greece and Music
When: 800 BC to 400 AD
Where: Athens
Main Ideas
Order
Beauty
Reason
Logic
• Ancient Greeks believed
everything could be explained
logically through the ideas of
beauty, order and reason.
Pythagoras was a philosopher or lover
of wisdom. He was also a
mathematician and he believed
mathematical law governed all of life’s
activities
What did Pythagoras do?
• Pythagorean Theory –
• Musical Scale- a system
of tones based on the
distance between 2
pitches, interval, that
sounds pleasing to the
ear.
Ancient Greek Musical Instruments
Lyra
The lyre: a strummed and
occasionally plucked string
instrument, essentially a
hand-held instrument built
on a tortoise-shell frame,
generally with seven or more
strings. The lyre was used to
accompany others or even
oneself for recitation and
song.
Kithara
The kithara: a strummed
string instrument, more
complicated than the lyre. It
had a box-type frame with
strings stretched from the
cross-bar at the top to the
sounding box at the bottom;
it was held upright and played
with a plectrum. The strings
were tunable by adjusting
wooden wedges along the
cross-bar.
Aulos
The aulos: usually double,
consisting of two double-reed
(like an oboe) pipes, not
joined but generally played
with a mouth-band to hold
both pipes steadily between
the player's lips. Modern
reconstructions indicate that
they produced a low, clarinetlike sound.
Pan Pipes
The Pan pipes: also known as
panflute and syrinx is an
ancient musical instrument
based on the principle of the
stopped pipe, consisting of a
series of such pipes of
gradually increasing length,
tuned (by cutting) to a desired
scale. Sound is produced by
blowing across the top of the
open pipe (like blowing across a
bottle top).
Hydraulis
The hydraulis: a keyboard
instrument, the forerunner of
the modern organ. As the name
indicates, the instrument used
water to supply a constant flow
of pressure to the pipes.
Essentially, the air to the pipes
that produce the sound comes
from a wind-chest connected by
a pipe to a dome; air is pumped
in to compress water, and the
water rises in the dome,
compressing the air, and causing
a steady supply of air to the
pipes.
Ancient Seashell Trumpet
A sea shell with a cut opening as
a mouthpiece
Difficulties Understanding
Ancient Greek Music
1. Much of the music was destroyed by fire
2. Many do not agree about how to
interpret the music
3. Much of the music was not written down
Ancient Greek Culture and Music
Ancient Greeks used music in their lives for the
following:
•To accompany dramatic plays
•At sporting events and games
•To accompany dancing
•At ceremonies and rituals