- Primitive system of notation - especially rhythm

- Few authentic examples of secular music

writings were by monks - their task to transcribe sacred text/music
(referred to as: plainchant,plainsong , Gregorian chant , monody)
- Under the patronage of the Roman Catholic church - music was
organized according to the liturgical needs
- Music was set to ecclesiastical Latin text

- Absence of instrumental music in church - denial of the physical

- Monophonic chant continued its development past 1100 but lost its

preeminence with the development of polyphony and introduction
of harmony
- Most important influence outside of the church was feudalism - paid
tribute to patrons - gave rise to social consciousness - secular
entertainments

II. Function of Music

- Plainsong expressed a simple faith in God

- For the rituals of the church

Mass
Ordinary
Kyrie
Gloria
Credo
Sanctus
Agnus Dei (Benedictus)
Ite missa est
Proper (according to the church calendar)
Introit
Gradual
Alleluia
Offertory
Communion


Divine Offices (canonical hours)

Matins (between midnight and dawn)
Lauds (immediately following Matins - sunrise)
Prime (6:00 a.m.)
Terce (9:00 a.m.)
Sext (noon)
None (3:00 p.m.)
Vespers (sunset)
Compline (before retiring)
Music of Vespers (includes Magnificat ) became especially
important
- Chant also used for hymns, psalms, and tropes

- Secular music - dancing, special events, and folk traditions

III. Style and Performance Practice

- Formal Organization
Determined by the Latin text of the Liturgy
Pitch and duration followed the words
Tropes and Sequences based on freely composed melodic material
Secular monody determined by poetic text
Music reveals poetic patterns and form


- Melody

Restricted range; seldom beyond the octave
Constructed on intervallic relationships of the Church Modes
Secular monody often used wider range than plainsong
It was usually in regular phrases while plainsong was more irregular


- Rhythm

Plainsong rhythm determined by the flow of the prose
Metric patterns are absent in sacred monophony
Secular monophony follows poetic text and therefore is more metric


- Harmony

No systematic harmonic practice
In both sacred and secular notes were doubled or embellished by
instruments on occasion
Possibly the use of drone bass and ostinato figures
As early as the 9th century the practice of singing parallel fourths and
fifths began and was called organum


- Texutre

Plainsong was monophonic - no texture as in later music
A fuller texture was created in secular monophony with its
frequent use of instruments


- Instrumentation and Tone Color

Plainsong in the church was always vocal
occasionally accompanied by instruments
Secular music incorporated instruments - especially dance music
Plucked and bowed string instruments
Variety of woodwind, brass and percussion
 

- Chant
Byzantine chant
Ambrosian chant
Gallican chant
Mozarabic chant
Gregorian chant
Psalm Settings
- Organum

- Single-Movement Forms
Antiphon
Alleluia
Trope
Sequence
Conductus
Secular monophony

V. Music for Instruments

Although instrumental music was generally banned in the church, it is known that organs existed in churches as early as 800.  We do not know, however, how they were used, or what music was played.  It is evident from manuscripts and pictorial representations that instruments were used in secular music both as accompaniment to song and independently as dance music.

VI. Composers

Because of the improvisatory nature of early music, almost every performer was a composer.  This was especially true in secular music, and no doubt the same procedure was responsible for the origin of most of the chants that later became traditional.

Notker Balbulus (c. 840-912) - one of the earliest composers identified by name.  He was especially know as a writer of sequences.

Wipo of Burgundy (d. 1048) - Wrote the sequence for Easter, "Victimae paschali laudes", still in use today

Hermannus Contractus (1013-1054) - also known as Herman the Cripple, was a theorist as well as a composer.  His "Alma Redemptoris Mater" achieved great popularity and became the basis for numerous monophonic and polyphonic works

Abelard (1079-1142) - is known to have made a collection of hymns for monks and nuns.

VII. Historians, Theorists, and Manuscript Sources

Most early theoretical writings on music were either interpretations of the music theory of the ancients and subsequent concepts of music as a science, or attempts to link music and religion by means ofallegorical writings.  They were not derived from contemporaneous musical practices.

Boethius (c. 480-524) - one of the earliest theorists, was also a philosopher and mathematician.  His chief work was "De Institutione Musica," in which he related the music of his time to the theories of the Greek philosophers.

Odo of Cluny (879-942) - an abbot in France, was a music theorist whose "Dialogus de Musica" contains an account of modes and medieval notation.  He was the first to use letters to indicate pitches.

Guido d'Arezzo (c. 997 - c. 1050) - a Benedictine monk was the most important writer of his time concerned with the actual practices of music.  He dealt with the problems of notation and especially with the technique of singing.  His numerous writings have been an important source for modern scholars in interpreting medieval music.  He is popularly known today for the system of solmization based on the hymn "Ut queant laxis."  Related to it was the teaching aid known as the Guidonian Hand.

Musica enchiriadis (c. 900) - a treatise noteworthy for its description of early organum.  It covers the whole range of musical knowledge.  Much of its material was borrowed from the ancients.

Winchester Troper - a collection of original manuscripts written prior to 1100.  It consists of two liturgical manuscripts containing tropes and organum.