Music in the Medieval and Renaissance Eras

Music in the Medieval and Renaissance Eras
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Music in the Medieval and Renaissance Eras
One of the ways of understanding the various categories of music is by comprehending the difference between renaissance and medieval music. Such understanding is crucial especially to those interested in music. Music is a universal phenomenon, and thus has origins in different civilizations and cultures. For wanderers who are looking for the evolution and history of music, it is crucial to be knowledgeable on the different eras through which music has evolved with a chronological perspective. Two such eras are medieval and renaissance music, with various differences between them in terms of mood, rhythm, tone color, melody, harmony, texture, and performance practices.
Mood
In terms of mood and emotional expression, medieval music is characterized by Gregorian chant that conveys a calm and spiritual quality. This characteristic is informed by the fact that the medieval music composers were not looking to express the emotions of a text (Gleason & Becker, 1981). Music produced during this era is emotionless and does not appeal to the feelings and emotions of the listener. On the contrary, renaissance music sought to appeal to the emotions and feelings of the listener. The composers wrote vocal music with the aim of enhancing meaning as well as emotion of a text. This is evident in the case of renaissance madrigals, which express a broad range of emotions as well as imagery, both achieved through word painting (Gleason & Becker, 1981). An example in this case is secular music, which contains various rapid shifts of mood compared to sacred music (in the case of medieval music).
Rhythm
Music in the two eras also differed in rhythm. In the case of medieval music, the rhythm of Gregorian chant is flexible, has no meter, and its sense of beat is little; this results in medieval music having a floating quality. Notre Dame Composers first developed what became the first instances of western notation, indicating the specific pitches as well as measuring rhythms using definite time values (Gleason & Becker, 1981). This formed the basis of measuring rhythm. In addition, music is this era is characterized by dances having a regular beat, which is also clearly defined. In the case of ars nova, the beat was further subdivided into two or three, resulting in syncopation becoming a crucial aspect of rhythmic practice. On the other hand, rhythm in renaissance music is a rather a gentle flow as opposed to the sharply defined beat in medieval music (Gleason & Becker, 1981). This is so mainly in cappella music in which each of the lines has great rhythmic independence from the others. Further, both instrumental and vocal secular music has a beat that is more clearly defined.