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Listening to Music

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Most of us hear music as we conduct our normal activities of daily living. Our clock radio may awaken us in the morning, and we turn on our car radio as we head off to work. Work places sometimes have music playing throughout the day, and even restaurants and grocery stores provide us with a background of music as we eat or shop. We may have a CD playing in the background as we read, study or just relax. But are we really concentrating upon the music?

To really enjoy music we need to learn how to listen perceptively. If we begin with the elements of music, or the building blocks, we will learn to differentiate between a melody, rhythm, harmony, texture, form, tempo and dynamics. Also, listening to specific instruments and understanding their capabilities aids in understanding why a composer used a particular instrument for a certain section of a composition.

Music is interwoven with the lives and beliefs of its people in every culture. It is a part of religious and civic ceremonies, and it provides entertainment. Also, each historical period has its own stylistic characteristics. Each era has certain qualities in common, whether it is the music, art work, or written word. Thus, each period of time is the total art language of all its artists as they respond to the artistic, political, economic, religious, and philosophical forces that shape their environment.

The generally accepted periods in the history of Western music represent a conception of form and technique, an ideal of beauty, a manner of expression and performance related to the cultural climate of the period. Knowledge of historical styles helps us to place a musical work within the time and place in which it was created.

Some of these periods overlap, and scholars will always disagree as to when one style ends and another begins. Yet, each period leads by small degrees into the following one. The dates and labels are just signposts.

Historical Periods

400-1450	Middle Ages
400-600	Early Christian period
600-850	Early Middle Ages - Gregorian chant
850-1150	Romanesque period - development of polyphony
1150-1450	Late Middle Ages (Gothic period)
1450-1600	Renaissance
1600-1750	Baroque period
1725-1775	Rococo period
1750-1825	Classical period
1820-1900	Romantic period
1890-1915	Post-Romantic & Impressionist period
1900-Present	Twentieth century

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