| MUSIC is one of those art forms which act as a mirror of social and cultural changes. If the society or the culture of a particular place is falling in to decline, it will be reflected in the music of that place straight away. Similarly, when the society or the culture is developing well, the music will also thrive. Therefore, music has a major character in the tracking down the history of a country and its culture.
The music world owes much to the Ancient Greeks. In fact, the term "music" is derived from the nine muses of Ancient Greece, who were goddesses controlling the arts and sciences. Present-day musicians refer to their muse, which is someone who influences another person's creative work. Different musical terms, such as tune, melody, rhythm and others are derived from the Greek language. Nevertheless, when Ancient Greece fell into decline, Greek music hibernated for several centuries until it was reborn in the Nineteenth century.
It is said that Greeks considered music a way of worshipping God. Music was also a part of their social life. It was played on all forms of social occasions. Since drama was also popular in Greece, they also used music when drama was staged.
It is often believed that Greek music lacked harmony. It was largely sung by one singer and not by a choir as is ordinarily demonstrated in Greek plays. Ancient musicians stringently stuck to the laws of music and didn't mix one form with another. The rules were so stringent that the audience or listeners were not permitted to clap. The purpose of musical shows was not to amuse but to teach ordinary people.
Pythagoras was the first to use numbers to denote musical scales which he identified when studying the differences in sound frequencies of varied length strings of musical instrument. This concept spread to Ancient Greek Music. Hence, Pythagoras became known as the father of music theory. Most musical works, as reported, was monophonic. Therefore, they were rather similar.
These days Greek music is made up of folk and Eastern and Western influences. |
