Western Art Music A Constant State Of Flux Since Its...

Western art music has been in a constant state of flux since its creation. Evolving due to generations constantly contributing and evolving music in order to express what they believe music is and express how they feel. This love and dedication towards music has been unparalleled and unwavering for hundreds of years from sacred medieval music to modern day pop hits. Western Art music began taking the shape that we know today after the fall of Rome with Medieval music. Almost all music from that time was commissioned by the church (Secular music) and were required to be written down in order to share with other members of the congregation. All music at this time was monophonic (containing only one melody line) in droning style which is†¦show more content†¦The modern orchestra was born, the harpsichord was invented and all of the instrumental groups received upgrades, including the strings creating the violin, viola, and cello. This is also when a lot of common modern music terms were coined; such as overture, prelude, aria, chorus, concerto, and sonata. The essence of music changed at this point in time. Music was finally regarded as something to be treasured, something that should be enjoyed by everyone, something that should be able to hear everywhere not just at church. Music was played at formal gatherings, garden parties and for t he wealthy it was even played at home during meals. Almost every ‘woman of the house’ in Europe had some sort of instrument that they practised as a way to pass time and demonstrate their skills. The style of music in the Baroque era was often considered chaotic, there seemed to be no structure to the pieces however, they flowed beautifully. The next musical period is the most well known, the classical period. It continued the aforementioned modernisations of the baroque era however added its own uniform quality to it. The baroque period was known for being wild, untamed, and chaotic, than came the classical period which practically reversed this. The classical period was very uniform everything was structured, everything was their for a reason, and everything had to be played in perfect timing. Despite its