Rennaisance Music - Change to, from Middle Ages

When considering change in any type of situation, be it animal evolution, political reform, art, etc... it happens on a gradual scale. People are generally leery of change, but also embrace the "new" once the "old" seems boring or monotonous. Musical change is not an exception. Musical change takes place over time during which small changes are made in regards to style, form and texture and these changes end with a sudden innovation. These changes occur mainly due to the civilization of cultures, education and other types of social development.

When considering the monophonic texture of the Gregorian chant, you can clearly see a primitive form of music whereas the people of that time believed the more sacred, the less lively the setting. They did not even use proper notation and was more than likely learned from ear to ear (much like any type of vocal church music is learned today - mono or polyphonic) In other words, the reserved Roman Catholic members were very introverted in their music having a single line of chant with a single line of music. A good example is Alleluia in the listening guide.
Granted, the Gregorian chant may not have been as drab as we make it out to be, because of the scarcity of the pieces found and no notation, no one really knows how the chants were sung. Gregorian chant could have had a range of dynamics including mild crescendos, or even a mf (Mezzo Forte) in the middle of a song when they were really trying to make God listen. We doubt they went vivace on the music much, but again with no notation who is to say?

Change - once something is there for so long, it does become monotonous and boring. Humans, creatures of habit though they may be, look for change when they are bored, mad, or just plain tired of repetition. As stated in a previous post, the culture directly affects music in any society. Culture, for this matter, includes religion and politics of the era. Because the church was becoming more lax and branching, people were able to lessen their fears and become more individualized with their artistic expression.

There was secular music in the early Middle Ages, just not as much and as time grew more and more people were interested in the lively sounds the new instruments produced. They were excited by the change in their repetitious lives. They began to experiment with more lines of music as well as with more instruments such as the harp, sacbut, lute and bagpipe. The notation began to reflect the people's desire to separate from the church; the notes were no longer grave steps, but instead leaps were added to the music and with modulation and measured rhythm the music produced new and exciting sounds. A good example (though still liturgical and gentle) is Ave Maria. Ave Maria is perhaps one of my favorite pieces from the Renaissance period. It flows so beautifully and within its polyphonic imitation you hear the combination of four voices in the motet.

In summation, it is very easy to see the musical changes throughout 450-1600 on a visible timeline, it is the same with differentiating the music with your ears – you can clearly tell the difference between the monophonic and polyphonic texture of the pieces and examples given. With the advent of notation, measured rhythm, modulation, and various other key elements during these early times, the music became more complex and began to reflect more of the spirit of the people. The culture of these societies was changing and thus had a direct impact on the musical climate. Religion is still a very large part of music in people's lives, but even the religious music became a bit more lively and to an extent imitated portions of the secular music. The musical style changed because the melodies, rhythms and tones changed given the addition of notation, more vocals, and more instruments. Harmonies were gradually added to the music and more instrumentation was used to form what we call today a “band”.