Music History Unit
Learning Module
- Creator(s):
Level: General Music or Music Appreciation class, 6th-8th grade (designed for 6th, but is flexible)
Unit End Goal: Students will be able to explain, analyze, dicuss, think critically about, and demonstrate understanding about the eras of Music History including how the sounds differed and who the major composers were.
Assessment: Students will demonstrate mastery through updates, surveys, and the wikiproject.
All 10 National Core Arts Standards are met in some way through this unit. See below:
For my school district, it meets these stands for General Music Grade 6. Yours may have similar standards:
DATES: Appx. 450-1450
We start our walk through western music history with the Medieval Era (also known as the Middle Ages), an era that introduced two types of music: sacred and secular. Sacred music is religious music, or music that was made for and sung or played in the church. Secular music is any other kind of music, any music that is not in the church or does not have a religious meaning.
Music in the Medieval Era was mostly sacred because of the influence of the Roman Catholic Church. The church was the only real place someone could go to hear music. Music was functional, meaning songs had purpose, such as part of religious worship or ceremony and was not made simply for listening.
Although there were some medieval instruments, music during this era was predominantly vocal and monophonic, meaning it only had one part.
Watch the below video for a brief summary of Gregorian Chant, the most important type of music from the Medieval era:
Comment: The Medieval Era is a famous time in history, with many books and movies taking place in that time period. What do you think of when you think of Medieval?
Make up Update: Choose one of the 7 characteristics of Gregorian Chant from the video. Explain what it is or what it means, with pictures or videos when appropriate, and also discuss how it is similar and/or different than the music of today. Comment on at least 3 other's updates that chose a different characteristic than your update and write something you learned or found interesting based on their update.
Here are the 7 charactheristics:
Length of Time: One 45 minute class period
Students get an introduction to Music History with the Medieval era through text and an engaging 8:00 video about Gregorian chant. Some parts of the video (e.g. the section about church modes) may be too complex for students depending on their musical backgrounds. They are not integral to understanding the concept.
The comment and update are pretty straight forward for this unit, so students should be able to get a good conversation going in the comments about what they think of when they think of Medieval. The discussion combined with the small bit of research needed for the update lets students open up and also take ownership in their learning and building of a learning community.
DATES: 1450-1600
After a long period of slow innovation, there was a surge of interest in Ancient Greek Classicism, particularly in art, architecture, and society. This period of time is called the Renaissance, which means "rebirth" or "revival".
While the music written at the time did not change drastically from the Medieval era, what changed was the way it was played. Instruments became much more common and were used in the church in addition to voices. The Renaissance developed the 4 voice part system we still use today, grouping singers or instruments into 4 parts: Soprano, Alto, Tenor, and Bass, with Soprano the highest and Bass the lowest. As women were still not allowed to sing in the Catholic Church, all four voice parts were performed by men. Boys with unchanged voices sang the highest parts.
As opposed to the monophonic texture (all voices singing the same part) in the Medieval era, the Renaissance also used a polyphonic texture, which includes multiple, independent, equal parts singing/playing different parts concurrently. In this video below, notice the 4 voice parts and how not all the voices are doing the same or similar rhythms at the same time. This can be seen easily by looking at the lyrics - while all four parts sing the same lyrics, they often don't sing the same words at the same time.
Many instruments were created and used in the Renaissance Era, many of which are ancestors of instruments used today. This website has descriptions, pictures, and audio clips of over 30 different Renaissance instruments.
As so many giant cathedrals like the one in the above photo were built in this time period, that also meant the pipe organ became a prominant instrument in the Renaissance, as every cathedral had a pipe organ inside. Here's an example of what it looks and sounds like:
Comment: Have you ever been to a Renaissance Fair? What was your experience? If not, read the responses from people that have been to one and then ask a question about what they did or what it was like.
Make an Update: Choose either the pipe organ or any instrument from the Renaissance instruments website and write about its history, its sound, and its use in Renaissance Era music. Comment on at least 3 classmate's updates.
Length of Time: One 45 minute class period
Students can get confused on the difference between monophonic music (Medieval) and polyphonic music (Renaissance). This can be reinforced.
You may need to help the discussion in the comments if students have never been to a Renaissance fair. If needed, you could show a video about Renaissance Fairs, such as this one:
If desired, more could be added about the pipe organ and its importance in history as an invention and as an instrument.
DATES: 1600-1750
While the Renaissnace was defined by a spirit of simplicity and symmetry in art and philosophy, the Baroque period was defined by ornate and detailed ornamentation. Compared to Renaissance art and music, the Baroque is generally more complex and intricate.
The Baroque Era is the first musical era with clear association to particular composers. While there may not be very much music from the Medieval or Renaissance that is popular or well-known today, there are many famous "classical music" songs from the Baroque Era. Sonatas, oratorios, opera, and other forms of music were created in this time period. In a sense, this was the first modern era.
Here are Baroque songs you may recognize. Watch at least a minute or two of each video:
George Frideric Handel - Hallelujah Chorus
Johann Sebastian Bach - Toccata and Fugue in D minor
Antonio Vivaldi - The Four Seasons: Spring
Johann Sebastian Bach - Cello Suites (No. 1)
These songs get used a lot, like in this commercial, for example:
To discover a bit more about Bach: Here's a discovery activity about Bach's life and music. Search the internet for the answers to these biography questions.
Comment: Like the example above, music from the baroque (and classical) eras are often used in commercials and movies. Why do you think that is? Why use older music instead of something newer and more popular?
Make an Update: Choose one of the baroque composers listed below and write a snapshot of who they were and the songs that they wrote. Include audio examples in your update. Comment on 3 classmate's updates who chose different composers by comparing and contrasting the composer you chose with the one they chose.
Length of Time: 1-2 class periods
The importance of Bach cannot be stressed enough - he was so defining to the Baroque era that the people who classified the eras decided to end the Baroque era in the same year Bach died, 1750.
Sonatas, oratorios, opera, etc. can be defined if students have questions. Handel's Messiah (which the Hallelujah Chorus is from) is a great example of an oratorio.
There are many other YouTube commercials with Baroque and other historical eras that could be used for further fun examples. I've often used the commercials as an introduction to the entire unit, introducing that we still use "old" music and pointing out that students know more classical music than they realize.
Linked within is a Google Form with Bach Biography questions. You'll want to open it and make a copy to use it with your own class.
DATES: 1750-1820
While the music of the Baroque period was ornate, efficient and complex, the new sound of the Classical period is more refined, organized, and simpler. It is perdominantly homophonic—a clear melody above a secondary chordal accompaniment.
The orchestra became the primary ensemble for which composers wrote music. While the orchestra existed in the Baroque era, the instruments within and the number of players was not very consistent from group to group. In the Classical era, the orchestra size was expanded and became more standardized. Woodwinds and brass became not simply instruments used sometimes but instruments used in all orchestras, with often two of each woodwind and brass instrument.
The piano was invented in this era and replaced the harpsichord as the primary keyboard instrument for this period. Unlike the harpsichord, which plucked strings with quills, pianos strike the strings with hammers when the keys are pressed. As a result, the piano is able to play multiple volumes, from which is where it gets its original name of the pianoforte (soft-loud).
The classical era is showcased by its 3 main composers: Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven.The best way to understand their music and the music of the Classical period is to listen, so here are examples by each of them:
Comment: Notice how the Beethoven video is not just a still picture but a visualization of all the notes the different instruments of the orchestra play. How did the visualization change how you listened to the song? Do you like this more or less than just listening with no video?
Make an update: Choose any composition written by one of those 3 composers. Post the video you used, listen closely to the song and write a bullet point timeline of the song as if you're walking a listener through it. Note: You do not need to do a full symphony or sonata! Simply one movement is enough. Comment on at least 3 classmate's updates about how the song they chose sounds to you or about their timeline.
Length of Time: 1-2 class periods, depending on how long the update takes students to write.
A point of confusion for many students (and adults) is the different between the Classical Era and the general "classical music" term. This can be explained easily by saying they were at one point one and the same - terms from the 1800s describing the great composers of the 1700s. When people say classical music in everyday life, most of the time they do mean music from the Classical Era, although there are famous pieces from the Romantic and Baroque eras as well.
Students may need assistance writing the timelines for the update. Providing suggestions such as "indiciate when the instruments playing changes, the style changes, or the volume changes" could be helpful, as well as limiting them to for example the first 5 minutes of the piece to narrow the scope.
DATES: 1820-1900
The Romantic period has its name not because of songs based on romantic love, but because the driving force behind compositions in this era was feeling. Composers tried to show passion and expression in their music, not through having lyrics but through the sound of the music itself. Music was not only for music's sake or for a church ceremony but written to demonstrate particular emotions and stories.
This video goes over many of the main keys of the Romantic period. You only need to watch the first 8 minutes.
While we focused on a few particular composers in the previous eras, the Romantic period has many famous composers. Here's a YouTube playlist of 68 different Romantic compositions. Listen to at least 5 different songs - only about 30 seconds per song, get the idea and move on another one.
A quick note about Beethoven: He was one of the major Classical period composers, but is also a major Romantic period composer as well. His early compositions were Classical, but as he got older his pieces became more daring, and you could say he started the Romantic period with his bold compositions.
Other famous romantic composers include:
Comment: The Romantic period introduced programmatic music, or music written to tell a story or show a specific idea. What story, either from your life or made-up, do you think would work well with a Romantic period style soundtrack? Tell the story and perhaps some of the ways the music would sound during the story.
Make an Update: While the composition techniques or sounds of the Romantic period may have ended, the idea of music showing and evoking emotions is still common today. Find a more modern song (written in the last 50 years) that you think displays particular feelings or emotions, post the song, and explain what feelings, emotions, or ideas the song sounds like. Note: It has to be based on the sound of the music, not based on the words! It's acceptable if the song has words, but the emotion has to come through the sound, not the lyrics. Comment on at least 3 classmate's updates.
Length of Time: 1-2 class periods
The concept of Beethoven setting the stage of the Romantic Era is very important. His early music is quintessential Classical Era music, but his later music is also considered some of the best Romantic Era music, as well. Symphony 1 vs Symphony 9 are good examples of Classical vs. Romantic works of Beethoven.
You'll have to know your class for the effectiveness of the comments and updates. This one could foster very good discussions with students telling stories and talking about songs they know that evoke emotion from the music, but it might need to be monitored to stay on-topic.
DATES: 1900-2000
Just before the turn of the century became one of the most important inventions in all of music history: recorded music via the phonograph. Recorded music, and later the radio, created a musical revolution as music no longer required being present at a live performance in order to hear it. It became possible for music artists to quickly become famous nationwide. Additionally, because song writers and audiences were able to be exposed to a wider range of music than ever before, this led to the combining of many different styles of music, creating an exponential growth of new types of music.
The 20th cenruty is a century in which the United States' influence would be felt around the globe, especially in music. The most important influence to music in the U.S. was the musical culture African Americans brought to this country, developed within the bonds of slavery. This eventually lead to blues and jazz music, which are often called the only purely American art forms.
The blues is important, because its influence on music is extreme. The blues is embedded within and influenced every other style of music that came later in the 20th century - country, rock, soul, R&B, bluegrass, hip-hop, and many others. All of them have roots in the blues.
Google create an interactive Music Timeline, based on album and song release dates that people listen to on Google Music. Feel free to explore different genres and artists within it.
ConcertHotels.com made a interactive timeline as well, titled 100 Years of Rock. It clearly shows the explosion of genres and subgenres that happened as the 20th century progressed, even in rock music alone.
Because of the exponential growth of music in the 20th century, there is far more music out there than we could possibly cover! As a result, the best way for you to get an walk through the different styles of music in the 20th Century is to experience some of them for yourself. Click this link to open a 20th Century Choose Your Own Musical Adventure. You'll choose one artist or band for each decade from a long list of options, listen to them in another tab, and look up some information about each artist you choose.
Comment: Which style(s) introduced in the 20th century had you never heard of before? Describe how it sounds as if you're describing it to someone who hasn't heard that style before.
Make an Update: Of all the Artists/Bands you chose in the Choose Your Own Musical Adventure, make an update about your favorite one. Include what kind of music they played, some of their famous songs, and why you liked them most.
Length of time: 2-3+ Class Periods
There are so many directions to go with 20th Century Music. If a quick overview is needed, this video can be shown:
The influence of jazz and blues is something students are not familiar, and is worth further discussion if time allows it. The two timelines linked are interesting, but could be confusing for some students. Understanding them is not vital to this unit.
The 20th Century Choose Your Own Musical Adventure is something students will find enjoyable, but it will take them a fair amount of time. It can easily take an hour to complete. Progress is saved on the Google Form if students Submit, and later come back and press Edit Answers.
Disney's Fantasia and Fantasia 2000 are animated films that take various music from music history and set animations to them. Some of these selections are compositions and composers we've already covered in previous sections, and some are new. Here is a video guide with questions while you watch.
Comment: Why are the majority of songs from the Romantic period and the 20th Century? Why are there not songs from the Medieval, Renaissance, or Baroque eras?
Make an Update: Find a video that combines visual art with baroque/classical/romantic/20th century music. Tell us about the piece of music, the visual art, and why you think the visual art does or doesn't fit with the music. (Not sure where to look? Look up "classical music cartoons" on Youtube for example and you'll find lots of options. It does not have to be a cartoon.) Comment on at least 3 classmate's updates about the selection they chose.
Length of Time: 3 periods
Note the linked Fantasia video is in Italian, but this is fine because the talking parts between selections are not necessary, and there are no words in the musical selections. This video will function if nothing else, but I recommending showing the actual Fantasia 2000 video if teaching in a traditional classroom environment. Good discussion can be add throughout or after the video about the pieces if desired.
The Sorcerer's Apprentice is also specificly programmatic: The song itself was written to showcase the same story the video is showing many years before the video was made. It is based on a short German poem of the same story.
An important takeaway is in the comments - the selections are mostly Romantic and 20th Century mainly because those are the eras where music was meant to tell a story. That is the major takeaway of this film for this class, other than more time spent closely listening to important historical pieces.
There are so many different aspects to Western Music History. How would you present what we've talked about and how you view how music changed over time? That's something you get to decide in this Create Your Own WikiTimeline project. Here are the guidelines:
For the Digital Timeline, you will create your own Haiku site and present a summary of Music History. It should present music history as if the person reading your Haiku site is not familiar with it. You decide what material to present and how to do it.
You will work in groups of 3-4, each of you with editing capability of your wiki
Your wiki should have 6 pages, one for each time period: Medieval, Baroque, Classical, Romantic, and 20th Century
Include recordings (from YouTube), pictures, and information about each era based on content we've talked about, other students updates, or your own research.
Be creative! You do not need to give every detail about every period - instead, give us ideas, interesting facts, and walk us through your group's version of music history.
After two days, you will be able to view and comment on the wikis of the other groups. You will then peer review 2 other groups' wikis by giving your opinion of what parts of their wiki are well constructed and suggesting other areas or ways they can improve their wiki.
Here's the rubric for each era of the wiki:
When finished...
Comment: How did you benefit from the peer review process within WikiSpaces/Haiku?
Make an Update: Post a link to your final wiki! Only one link needs to be posted for each group.
Length of time: 3+ Class periods
Whether you use WikiProjects or Wikispaces, both have similar features.
The above photos show how students can work together, comment to their group or on other group's projects, how you can group students into groups, and monitor student progress and see how students contributed to the group. These are all very useful tools to monitoring the group work. Students that are not used to digital groupwork will need reassurance along the way.
Here is a rubric for assessing each era for each wiki. You can do this and/or have students do this about their own or other projects as well, after peer reviewing.
