I believe this was one of a plethora of musical and cultural era’s that have changed and enhanced the general way that we look at music and lyrical content in today’s age.
The reason for this, has come from the style of playing in general, although a generic structure was not important at this time, it gave a musician of the era a freedom of which to express themselves, but within a basic sound, for example one of the main instruments used, especially as entertainment or royalty purposes was the Lute, a stringed instrument, which was played a lot like the guitar or mandolin of today, also noting the actual complexity of the pieces were some of which had not been seen or heard of previously, the Elizabethan era lasted from 1558 - 1603, and within that time many styles were created.
Music was used in the Elizabethan era as great form of entertainment, The Elizabethan musical instruments consisted of many brought through from medieval times, also of newer instruments to the times, these consisted of stringed instruments of which may have been played with a bow or plucked, also even though they were at the beginning stages a lot of keyboard types of instruments were played, such as the harpsichord and the spinet, and of course not forgetting the percussion section which used various different types of drums, some of the old English era instruments are still used in music as we know it today, or if not used are a big influence on how we use modern instruments.
The lute is still known as one of the main instruments used at the time, here is a little demonstration of how the lute sounds and how it is played, As you can see it is played a lot like the guitar of today, but notice how the head is bent backwards but with a small neck, this gives it a very soft tone to make the 'Medieval' sound.
Music was not only used used for entertainment purposes it was also used in royal proceedings, also it started being implemented into the plays and shows that were becoming more and more popular with the likes of William Shakespeare, who used music to depict the scenes, for example just like music as we use it, to make us feel happy, sad, angry etc, this technique was used for Shakespeare’s greatest plays, and is still used in modern society in the very same way.
Although William Shakespeare was not a musician, he was a poet and a play write, and as we know poetry has a strong impact on the way musical lyrics are written today, Shakespeare was known to have used what is now known as ‘Queens English’, with very precise pronunciation on words, this has since opened up many peoples way of using Old English sounding words, into very new songs, which has then inspired artists to learn and add to there vocabularies.
Much of today’s ‘Pop’ music has very little emphasis with regards to the Elizabethan era, unlike ‘Rock’ music which has very similar styles of playing, but in the 21st century unlike the Elizabethan era, it is now all about, 'more is better', where as it was very stripped and clean in the past, but surprisingly enough, a lot of the words spoken by the people of that time, including Shakespeare, are reincarnated into modern day English and American Hip Hop, although hip hop has had its own timeline, at some point has crossed into the intellectual field of the Elizabethan era music, this is shown in the way that many hip hop artists speak today.
For example taking lyrics out of the context of hip hop, a lot of the time it is difficult to decipher weather it was in fact for example an Elizabethan or Shakespeare poem, or a hard hitting rap.
Here are a few examples to get your own minds working-
Pop quiz-
To destroy the beauty from which one came.
Maybe it’s hatred I spew, maybe its food for the spirit.
Men would rather use their broken records than their bare hands.
I was not born under a rhyming planet.
The most benevolent king communicates through your dreams.
Socrates, philosophy and hypotheses can’t define me.
This now gives a new way of thinking to modern day music, but still using the same basic patterns and techniques that were used in the Elizabethan era, even though most people have the own views on English music, weather that be of today’s chart music all the way back to the 8th century, we can always look back on what as changed from the past and what has remained a big part of our musical cultures.
The Old English and Elizabethan music style was one of a very relaxed but up beat sound, this for the poor people of the time was a great way to lift spirits, for royalty purposes it was used in a very similar way, but it was more entertainment led.
The sound that was produced from a musician was not of a poor quality, it was very clean, and very polished, here are a few of the musicians of the period.
Elizabethan Musicians composed music for musical instruments and the voice. The Elizabethan Golden Age saw the emergence of the Anthem, the Madrigal, the Masque and Opera. The emergence of new English music schools. And great Elizabethan Musicians such as William Byrd (1543-1623), Thomas Campion (1567-1620), John Dowland (1563-1626), John Farmer (1570-1601), Orlando Gibbons (1583-1625), Robert Johnson (1500-1560) and Thomas Tallis (1505-1585).
Here we have an example of some of the music of the time from a musician called William Byrd, who started writing music towards the end of 1570, and was writing thereafter until he was to old to do so.
This is a piece of music taken from the period, which is a beautifully arranged piece of music, this piece may have been used as a spiritual song, or within the church for an occasion.
From the picture I can clearly see an instrument called the Viol, also known as the 'leg viol', it is played between the legs, a lot like the cello or bass, but still has a sound alike the violin.
And also in the top right of the picture, we see an instrument called a Cornett, this has the mouth piece like the trumpet, but has the body of a curved recorder, this still gives a very strong sound out.
not forgetting the lute, the violin and viola also within the picture.
These are some of the 'main' instruments played in the time, and are still widely used today.
The traditions at the time were that of a very simple way of life, the royalty ruled the kingdoms and castles and the poor people worked for very little within each of the kingdoms, this is where a lot of the typical music came from, then ranging all the way up to royal musicians that played professionally.
And now to play you out, we have an ensemble, playing a 16th century piece of music, with all the general instruments of the time.
Reference list
salixarbour. (2007). Melancholy Galliard - Renaissance Lute. [Online Video]. 28 January. Available from:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V_K5zRA2APo. [Accessed: 23 October 2013].
warren king. 2012. Shakespeare's Blog . [ONLINE] Available at:http://www.nosweatshakespeare.com/blog/hip-hop-shakespeare/. [Accessed 22 October 13].
Alchin, L.K.. 2012. Elizabethan Music. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.elizabethan-era.org.uk/elizabethan-music.htm. [Accessed 26 October 13].
444Vincent444. (2012). Elizabethan Consort Music - Qeumadmodum A 6 (Taverner). [Online Video]. 11 December. Available from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MkU2BrX-PN8. [Accessed: 28 October 2013].
Pop quiz answers:
Hip hop: Jay-Zee
Hip hop: Eminem
Shakespeare: Othello
Shakespeare: Much Ado About Nothing
Hip hop: Wu-Tang Clan
No comments:
Post a Comment