Ancient Greece and Music

When: 800 BC to 400 AD

Where: Athens

Main Ideas Order Beauty Reason

Logic Ancient Greeks believed everything could be explained logically through the ideas of beauty, order and reason.

Pythagoras was a philosopher or lover of wisdom Pythagoras was a philosopher or lover of wisdom. He was also a mathematician and he believed mathematical law governed all of life’s activities

What did Pythagoras do? Pythagorean Theory – Musical Scale- a system of tones based on the distance between 2 pitches, interval, that sounds pleasing to the ear.

Ancient Greek Musical Instruments

Lyra The lyre: a strummed and occasionally plucked string instrument, essentially a hand-held instrument built on a tortoise-shell frame, generally with seven or more strings. The lyre was used to accompany others or even oneself for recitation and song.

Kithara The kithara: a strummed string instrument, more complicated than the lyre. It had a box-type frame with strings stretched from the cross-bar at the top to the sounding box at the bottom; it was held upright and played with a plectrum. The strings were tunable by adjusting wooden wedges along the cross-bar.

Aulos The aulos: usually double, consisting of two double-reed (like an oboe) pipes, not joined but generally played with a mouth-band to hold both pipes steadily between the player's lips. Modern reconstructions indicate that they produced a low, clarinet-like sound.

Pan Pipes The Pan pipes: also known as panflute and syrinx is an ancient musical instrument based on the principle of the stopped pipe, consisting of a series of such pipes of gradually increasing length, tuned (by cutting) to a desired scale. Sound is produced by blowing across the top of the open pipe (like blowing across a bottle top).

Hydraulis The hydraulis: a keyboard instrument, the forerunner of the modern organ. As the name indicates, the instrument used water to supply a constant flow of pressure to the pipes. Essentially, the air to the pipes that produce the sound comes from a wind-chest connected by a pipe to a dome; air is pumped in to compress water, and the water rises in the dome, compressing the air, and causing a steady supply of air to the pipes.

Ancient Seashell Trumpet A sea shell with a cut opening as a mouthpiece

Difficulties Understanding Ancient Greek Music Much of the music was destroyed by fire Many do not agree about how to interpret the music Much of the music was not written down

Ancient Greek Culture and Music Ancient Greeks used music in their lives for the following: To accompany dramatic plays At sporting events and games To accompany dancing At ceremonies and rituals