Schemes of work and teaching suggestions 1 INTRODUCTION AND TEACHING SUGGESTIONS THE MIDDLE AGES INTRODUCTION TO THE UNIT We start this book with the Middle Ages, an unstable period that lasted for almost one thousand years of history and marked the beginning of formal music and musical notation in the Western World. Music theory in this unit covers the concepts of texture, scale and rhythm, which are necessary to understand the birth of polyphony and the use of Gregorian modes and rhythmic modes. We also compare the characteristics of liturgical music and secular music, through an active listening activity with one piece of music representing each type. The students also have the opportunity to be present-day minstrels, creating a chanson de geste in the form of a rap inspired by a story in a newspaper. Finally, the recent history of the Codex Calixtinus offers a chance to reflect on our valuable artistic heritage and the importance of conserving it. CONTENTS MUSICAL CONTEXT • Historical context of the Middle Ages. • Medieval society, religion and culture. MUSIC THEORY • Review of the concepts of scale, tonic, interval, tone and semitone. • Major and minor scales. Modal scales. • Main rhythmic modes: trochee, iamb and dactyl. • Medieval textures: monophony and polyphony. • Performance of Como Poden per Sas Culpas (anonymous) and Tant M'Abelis (B. de Palou). MUSICAL CULTURE • Religious vocal music: Gregorian chant and liturgical polyphony. • Secular vocal music: minstrels and goliards. Songbooks. • Instrumental music and medieval instruments. • Music in al-Andalus. • Biographies: Guido d'Arezzo, Hildegard von Bingen and Bernart de Ventadorn. • Active listening to Can Vei la Lauzeta (B. de Ventadorn) and Adorate Deum (anonymous). GOING FURTHER • Creation of a present-day chanson de geste over the backing track and topic provided. • The robbery of the Codex Calixtinus in the cathedral of Santiago de Compostela. ASSESSMENT CRITERIA • To know the historical, social and cultural context of the • To know the characteristics, styles and forms of Gregorian Middle Ages. chant and medieval liturgical polyphony, and to identify them aurally. • To understand the concepts of scale, tonic, interval, tone and semitone. • To know who the minstrels and the goliards were, and what songbooks contained. • To build major and minor diatonic scales. • To know some of the most important musicians of the period. • To know the medieval modal scales and the main rhythmic • To know some medieval instruments and identify them modes, and to create melodies based on them. aurally. • To identify polyphonic and monophonic textures visually • To compare secular vocal music with Gregorian chant. and aurally. • To identify the main characteristics of Andalusian classical • To perform medieval pieces vocally and instrumentally. music. • To participate actively in group performances, taking on • To write lyrics for a rap over the backing track provided. different roles and coordinating one's own performance • To become aware of the importance of conserving our with that of one's classmates. artistic heritage. 12 History of Music. Teacher's Book. Photocopiable material © 2016 Richmond Publishing/Santillana Educación, S. L. KEY COMPETENCES Linguistic competence. Knowing the origins of Cultural awareness and expression. Listening to, Western musical notation will make the students analysing and performing melodies from the medieval aware that today's music theory is the result of a long repertoire involves gaining a deeper knowledge of process lasting many centuries. The analysis of the artistic expression in other historical periods. This is lyrics of a minstrel's song and an excerpt from a mass essential for the students to appreciate and enjoy the will reveal the relationship that exists between music musical heritage of different cultures, and be aware and literature. In addition, the READING activity at of the importance of conserving it. the end of the unit develops reading comprehension Initiative and entrepreneurship. Creating skills and encourages the habit of reading. melodies based on the scales and rhythmic modes Competence in mathematics, science and provided requires the students to put their previous technology. Building major, minor and modal scales knowledge into practice and develop their creativity, starting from a given note and maintaining personal initiative and the search for originality. It also a particular rhythmic mode means working with brings into play the ability to criticise one's own work units of measurement, such as tones and semitones, in order to reach conclusions and assess ways to or the long and breve note values. This specifically improve in similar activities in the future. contributes to the development of mental arithmetic Digital competence. Information technology skills. is an excellent tool for the students to find more information about codices and medieval instruments, Social and civic competences. The project and to learn about the lives of composers or suggested in the DEVELOPMENT OF KEY COMPETENCES well-known figures of the period, such as Kassia. In section, where the students create a present-day this way, the students develop the necessary skills chanson de geste in the form of a rap about racism to obtain, process and share information, in the classroom, encourages them to think about transforming it into knowledge. this serious problem and allows them to appreciate music as a powerful tool to increase social awareness. Learning to learn. The ACTIVITIES, KNOW HOW TO and In addition, group performances involve teamwork KEY CONCEPTS sections reinforce the content studied and require the students to develop their skills to put and encourage reflection on what the students have themselves in someone else's place. learnt and what they still need to learn. RESOURCES • Student's Book, pages 6 to 23. • End-of-unit test, Teacher's Book, pages 23 and 24. • Class Audio CD 1, tracks 2 to 14. • Answer keys, Teacher's Book, pages 25 to 28. • LibroMedia: digital resources for the unit. • Scores, Teacher's Book, pages 29 to 31. • Recorder. History of Music. Teacher's Book. Photocopiable material © 2016 Richmond Publishing/Santillana Educación, S. L. 13 1 INTRODUCTION AND TEACHING SUGGESTIONS THE MIDDLE AGES MUSICAL CONTEXT Once the students have read the opening text, ask them the questions from the STARTING POINTS section: • Extend the first question about musical notation with questions like: Do you think that people have always written music on five lines?; Do you think that people have always used the note values and rests that you know? • After the students say what they know about medieval music, ask them if they have ever had the opportunity to listen to this type of music. Then ask if they think that it's important for musical ensembles dedicated to spreading and conserving this music to exist. • According to the text, the purpose of music in the Middle Ages was to promote the Christian faith and pious feelings among the faithful. Ask the students for their opinions about the role music should have in today's world. • The picture shows a psaltery, a chordophone played by plucking the strings with the fingers (like in the picture) or striking them with a mallet. 1 The Middle Ages On a map, show the students the area covered by the Roman Empire during the 4th century A.D. Then show them its later division into the Western Roman Empire and the Byzantine Empire (395 A.D.). Ask the students which type of music they think developed more in this period: religious or secular, and ask them to justify their answers. Remind them that the Roman Catholic Church's position as the most powerful cultural institution in medieval times meant that social, scientific and artistic development were closely linked to it. Society and culture As a supplementary activity, ask the students to find information about some of the universities that were founded in this period. Some examples are the universities of Bologna (1088), Oxford (1096), Palencia (1208), Salamanca (1218), Padua (1222) and Paris (1275). Then ask the students to find pictures of Romanesque and Gothic architecture, sculpture and painting. Here are some examples that you can show them: Romanesque Gothic • Santo Domingo de Silos Abbey. • Notre-Dame Cathedral. • Church of San Martín de Frómista • Burgos Cathedral. Architecture in Palencia. • Avignon Cathedral. • Façade of the Church Notre-Dame • Tomb of Juan de Cervantes la Grande, Poitiers. in Seville cathedral. Sculpture • Tympanum of the Puerta del • The Smiling Angel in Reims Cordero in the Basilica of San Cathedral. Isidoro de León. • Royal Pantheon in the Basilica of • The Descent from the Cross San Isidoro de León. by Rogier van der Weyden. Painting • Fresco paintings in the Church of • Saint Mary Magdalene in the Saint Clement of Tahull. Church of Santa María la Mayor in Alcañiz. 14 History of Music. Teacher's Book. Photocopiable material © 2016 Richmond Publishing/Santillana Educación, S. L. Before starting the topic of medieval music, you can give a brief introduction to the origins of music: 1. Prehistory (2.5 million years ago): Archaeological evidence proves that music started in this period. It's believed that music had superstitious, magic or religious functions, and that it accompanied everyday life. At first only the human voice or body percussion was used, but later on rudimentary instruments appeared, made from natural materials (sticks and stones, stretched animal skins, shells, bones, horns, hunting bows, etc.) used in different ways (hit together, rubbed, struck, blown, plucked, etc.). 2. Mesopotamia (8,000 years ago): The oldest inscriptions, from over 4,000 years ago, show that Mesopotamia was the first civilisation to develop writing and a system of musical notation. People appear to have used scales with five or seven notes. The main instruments were the lyre, vertical pipes without embouchure holes, trumpets and drums. 3. Egypt (3100 B.C. to the 4th century B.C.): Thanks to depictions in reliefs and paintings, we know that music was fundamental to celebrations linked to the swelling of the Nile and harvest.