Music History and Eras

TEKS: 117.12, 15, 18 5A

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!

C. 1

15

0

C. 1

40

0

C. 1

60

0

C. 1

75

0

C. 1

83

0

C. 1

86

0

C. 1

92

0

Medieval Renaissance Baroque Classical Early

Romantic

Romantic Modern

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

Romantic

Modern

Exercise 1:

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)

Modern: Stravinsky—Petrushka (Russian Dance) Program Produced in Partnership with:

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.

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!

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.

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!

TEKS: 110.14, 26A, 29

110.15, 24A, 26

110.16, 26, 27, 28

I lived and composed in

Russia through both

World War 1 + II.

Name

Class

Date

I lived and composed

in Russia throughboth World War 1 +II.