Musical period essays

Musical period essays The Renaissance period saw the rise of the middle class. All the wealth did not go straight to the higher class and the middle class became more privileged and able to experiment with their own music. People moved to cities, and spent more time seeing plays and concerts. Music became part of a good education. By 1600, popular music of the day was available across Europe, and the middle class learned to play instruments using method books for recorder, lute, and guitar. Composers like Giovanni Palestrina led the way into a new way of composing. Man, rather then God, became the new focus in a great deal of music. Composers now turned to another dimension of music, and the use of harmony changed music for ever. There were two main musical types during the renaissance period Secular Music and Sacred Music. The sacred music of the Renaissance period originated from the plainsong used in the Middle Ages by the monks. This simple two-line polyphony was expanded to use up to four different vocal parts. This new vocal form was the called the motet, Giovanni Palestrina were the most famous Renaissance composer of motets he believed that the music was more important than the words. Music began to become very ornamented at this time and Motets became more ambitious and elaborate; more and more voices were also used and movements became longer and cleverer. The other most popular form of music in the renaissance period was secular music this was defined by Madrigals which were songs for small groups of voices without instruments. Usually about love Madrigals became very important for special occasions usually such as at feasts and weddings and often had verses with repeated choruses of the popular music of the time. Renaissance period music was able to be defined by the use of polyphonic rhythms and compositional styles for instruments these pieces were often written to accompany ballroom dancing...