Project III

 What period does the Middle Ages cover?
Between the V and the XV. It began with the fall of the Roman Empire in 476 and ended with the discovery of America in 1492.
What general characteristics does it have (according to the teachers' comments)?

·      They were dedicated to agriculture and livestock. The society was very rural.

·      The social classes were:

o  Privileged (kings, nobles and clergy)

o  Not privileged (Artisans and peasants)

·      The Catholic Church had a lot of influence in Middle Ages

·      Crusades or holy wars were developed to conquer lands.

·       Romanesque art is an artistic style created within workshops and emerged in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, in Europe.

·      Gothic art prevailed in the sixteenth century when the barbarians invaded the Roman Empire. It was characterized by the creation of the vaults of crossed arches, broken arches, stained glass windows.

What is the main difference between ``troubadours´´and ``minstrels´´?

A troubadour was that person of high birth who was dedicated to compose, translate and interpret his works with a didactic and entertainment purpose rather than as a way to make a living. Being educated people, with extensive training in the trívium (grammar, logic and rhetoric) and the quadrivium (arithmetic, geometry, music and astronomy), easily accessed the major European courts and were consulted on politics, literature or recent events.

The minstrels, on the contrary, their profession consisted only of entertaining people. They had many talents among them singing, dancing, reciting poems, juggling, hand games, word games and quick answers to earn money.

Pay attention to these two monuments (a Romantic church and a Gothic cathedral).What do their different heights have in common with the music evolution of those centuries?

Gothic art results from the evolution of Romanesque art, however we observe different and even opposite attitudes. If the Romanesque is recollection, darkness and solidity; in Gothic there is light, color and elevation to the divine.

 What do you feel looking at these pictures (taken from the 19th century but directly linked to the Middle Ages)? In your own opinion, what kind of music could accompany these images?
When I see these photos I feel harmony, peace, relaxation ...

In the first photo, the music that should accompany it is Celtic music, with rhythms that contrast with cheerful music that can even sound like melodies of war, even sad and peaceful.

In the second one, music that recalls the sound of nature: birds, crickets, frogs, wind, water ...

In the third one, it would be romantic music accompanied by instruments such as the harp, the flute, the violin...It may show little concern for the external form and greater by inspiration and expressive force. Melodic style of great richness, with a passionate and intense melody and a warm expression of feelings.

6)Why does Heavy Metal music love this aesthetic?

This type of music is related to the Middle Ages, wars, knights, castles, cavalry, wrestling ... It is common to find covers of music albums that are more reminiscent of a comic by Conan the barbarian. Theatrical staging and costumes more typical of medieval warriors with epic character letters. Musicians are seen as authentic warriors of legends who tell stories of distant or unreal times in which the listener flees from the monotony and rationality of today's life.