Music History and Eras

Music History and Eras
Musicians divide music into time periods or Eras. Each Era is
distinguished by how the music sounds, new instruments that
were invented, and the difficulty and talent required from the
musician. When you attend the ensemble performance at your
school, we will focus on only a few eras, but let’s look at the
eras of music history together!
Romantic
Romantic
Modern
C. 1920
C. 1830
C. 1750
C. 1600
Early
Classical
C. 1860
Baroque
Renaissance
C. 1400
C. 1150
Medieval
TEKS: 117.12, 15, 18 5A
Though there are many periods of music, and many periods can be further divided, we will focus on the four periods
that modern musicians often have the opportunity to play:
Baroque
Classical
Exercise 1:
Romantic
Modern
Click on each of the periods listed on the left to hear a sample of music from this
period. Music has been selected from the 2014-2015 Music Memory list when
possible, and is as follows:
Baroque: Telemann—Viola Concerto in G Major (Allegro)
Classical: Beethoven—Minuet in G
Romantic: Berlioz—Symphonie Fantastique (March to the Scaffold)
Program Produced in
Partnership with:
Modern: Stravinsky—Petrushka (Russian Dance)
Exercise 2:
What defines each music period? Discuss with students what differentiates each of the music periods that
they will hear with Conversations with Music. Combining this exercise with Exercise 1 may help students begin to
achieve auditory recognition of music genres, styles, and composers!
Baroque: During this period, you would have heard classical musicians playing outdoors at large parties or
at balls! Only the rich and famous had the opportunity to hear classical music performed as they were the
only people who could afford to pay for the musicians and their instruments to perform at parties. The
Baroque period helped establish opera, concerto, and sonata as a musical genre. During this period,
performers and composers began to use more elaborate musical ornamentation; made changes in musical
notation; and developed new instrument playing techniques. During this period, the piano had not been
invented yet, but its early relative the harpsichord was utilized often! Famous composers from this period
include Johann Sebastian Bach, Antonio Vivaldi, and Johann Pachelbel.
Classical: During the Classical Period, composers began to experiment for the first time with dynamics!
“Dynamics” is the term musicians use to describe playing both soft and loud in one piece of music. To
enhance this new experiment, the harpsichord transitioned into an instrument known as the pianoforte
which is Italian and translates to “soft/loud.” In this period, the woodwind section became self-contained;
this means that the woodwind section had instruments that were soprano, alto, tenor, and bass in tone.
Just like a choir, instrument sections need a variety of voices to make a compete sound. Popular composers
from this period include Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Ludwig van Beethoven, and Franz Schubert.
Teachers: Interested in
teaching more of the key
music vocabulary? Look
for the vocabulary
curriculum online!
Romantic: The Romantic period does not mean the same thing as a romantic movie! Romantic composers
were not focusing their music on love; romantic composers focused on dynamic, exciting, and expressive
forms of music. During this period, the size of the orchestra grew as we saw the invention of the modern
day woodwind instrument the flute. We also saw the invention of brass instruments including the trumpet
and trombone. As the size of the orchestra grew, composers increased the number of instruments that they
could place in their music and were able to create the exciting and dramatic music from the romantic
period. Some famous composers from the Romantic period include Hector Berlioz, Frederic Chopin, and
Richard Wagner.
Modern: The Modern period can be divided into many styles because composers in the modern period look
at new ways to approach harmony! Critics say that composers are “being pulled in carious and
contradictory directions” since few modern composers share any similarity. What modern composers have
done is challenge the musician and the musician’s skill with their instrument. The environment and
advances in technology have also effected the sound of modern music compared to other periods.
Compared to previous periods of music, modern composers live in a world that has tons of noise all day
long! We have cars, trains, airplanes, telephones, radios, and many other technological advances that we
hear all day long. Modern music reflects the increase in noise around us daily by using more instruments
and utilizing conflicting, non harmonious, tones. Some Modern composers include Dmitri Shostakovich,
Leonard Bernstein, and Aaron Copland.
TEKS: 110.14, 26A, 29
110.15, 24A, 26
110.16, 26, 27, 28
Exercise 3:
Introduction to famous composers! Many of the famous composers that you hear of today can be easily
recognized by “fun facts” about their life. Learning a fun fact about a composer may help intrigue your
students into learning more about their music and the time period they wrote in! Some of these composers
may be performed at your Conversations with Music Performance!
Using the worksheet below, create name tags for your students identifying each of them as one of the below
composers. Then, give your students the worksheet without the Composers names and have them introduce
themselves to each other in the classroom. By “Meeting and Greeting” with other composers, students will have the
opportunity to learn about composers! As students meet other composers, have them fill in the name of the composer
next to the fun fact that was shared. Additional information on directions for this activity are provided on the teacher
worksheet included.
Variation 1: Worried about having enough time to
complete the entire worksheet? Have students
play “MUSIC” ! Using the rules of BINGO, have
students yell “MUSIC” when they meet enough
composers to gain five composers names either
across, down, or diagonally in their worksheet!
Variation 2: Concerned about having all
your students “running wild” in the
classroom with this activity? Have each
student take turns coming to the front
of the classroom to introduce
themselves (just like if they were a new
student!) You can ask students to use
library resources or computers to find
during which period of music history
their assigned composer wrote music,
where they were born, or other
interesting facts! This will allow your
students to research and present their
composer!
Name
Class
Date
I lived and composed in
Russia through both
World War 1 + II.
I lived and composed
in Russia through
both World War 1 +
II.