#MEDIEVAL MANUSCRIPT SHEET MUSIC HOW TO#

Modern harmony can be thought of as vertical, meaning that there is a chief melody line implying a harmonic structure, based generally on major and minor triads or chords. The first step to medieval polyphony is to understand its fundamental difference from modern music. Modern harmony and medieval polyphonyįor all the examples below showing methods for adding a second polyphonic voice to monophony, I use the refrain melody for CSM ( Cantiga de Santa Maria) 10 in modern notation, as follows: To see and hear the polyphonic techniques outlined in this article in practice, click the picture below for a demonstration of the following, all flagged in the video: parallel octave heterophony moving drone fifthing contrary motion “minstrelish” organum and drone above.

#MEDIEVAL MANUSCRIPT SHEET MUSIC HOW TO#

If, however, you’d like to get straight to the practicalities of how to turn medieval monophonic music into polyphony, head for each soundfile, read the written piece of music above it (where there is one) and read the paragraph above that to explain it. If you’d like to know the background and evidence for each technique of medieval polyphony, simply start at the beginning and end at the end. The key message of this article is: once informed, be creative. Finally, the question of what to do if there isn’t a tune is addressed. There are links to 15 illustrative videos, putting the techniques in this article into practice. Arrangements of the first section of Cantiga de Santa Maria 10 illustrate heterophony, parallel movement, fifthing, the gymel, the importance of medieval modes, drones and drone-like accompaniments, the type of organum derided by a cleric as “minstrelish little notes”, the rota and ground bass, and the motet.įor each method, there is a sound clip of a short musical performance, composed in historically informed style by Ian Pittaway, performed by Kathryn Wheeler on recorder and vielle, and by Ian Pittaway on harp, gittern and oud. For simplicity and clarity, the same passage of music is used as the basis for exploring a variety of accompaniments. This second article distinguishes the difference between modern harmony and medieval polyphony, and the main body of the article looks at styles of medieval accompaniment by referencing historical models. The first article focussed on historical instrument combinations, using the illustrations of two 13 th century manuscripts as representative examples.

The most fundamental question of all in playing early music today is: how can the music be played to reflect historical practice? This is the second of three articles looking at historically-informed ways of performing medieval music, aiming to be a practical guide, with plenty of musical examples and illustrations, and a bibliography for those who wish to delve further.

Medieval manuscript sheet music