Primitive Music ?-900 A.D.

Music has been a part of human expression throughout recorded history

Music in Everyday Life

Music in Worship

Music in Celebrations

How do we learn about this time?

• Bible references to music• Pottery pictures• Cave drawings• Art in pyramids• Archeological artifacts

Greek Pottery Images

Cave Drawings in China

Archeologist finds

• 40,000 year old flute made from bird bones found in Germany

What we’ve learned from pyramid art

• Music and dance generally seemed to have worked with each other

• There were male and female dancers, as well as dance groups that performed during special occasions.

• There were festive dances, funeral dances, as well as dance dramas

What we’ve learned from pyramid art

• Paintings depicting people playing lutes, harps and cymbals have been found, which shows that music and dance were a popular form of entertainment at that time.

Ancient Greek Music• Cult of Dionysus – god of wine, wilderness and

vegetation– Music always included aulos– The next video shows an aulos

Ancient Greek Music

Cult of Apollo – god of music– Music always included a lyre– The next video shows a lyre

Ancient Greek Music• Philospher Aristotle said that music represents

the states of the soul – the kind of music you listened to influenced the kind of person you are. What do your choices say about you?

Neumes

A system of writing down music developed by the Greeks.Lines and shapes showed general melody direction and possibly how long notes should last.

Bible References

• David played the harp for King Saul

Bible References

• Joshua and men blew trumpets to bring down the walls of Jericho

Bible References

• The tribe of the Levites were the musicians of the temple

Bible References

• Psalms – prayers, poems and songs

Bible References

• David danced in celebration

Bible References• Miriam plays the timbrel (tambourine) and

sings after the Red Sea covers the Egyptians. The next slide shows a modern performance.

InstrumentsShofar (ram’s horn). Still used in some places as an instrument to signal worship times. See it in the next slide.

Trumpets in Bible times.Trumpets like this are still used today. They are called “herald trumpets”. The next video shows a U.S. Military group playing them in a tribute to 9/11.

CymbalsThe next video shows a demo of many different sizes of cymbals with a drum/cymbal solo at the end of the video.

Timbrel – like our modern tambourineGittith – a kind of a lyre or harp