The Medieval period took place in 430 ca through 1430 following the history of Europe, starting from the collapse of the Roman empire to the start of the Renaissance. During this time period, Western notations was introduced, mostly used for composing music. In addition to this, a practice of writing the same melodies that sound at the same time was introduced more specifically called polyphony. Reading and learning about this musical era made me realize, this was the start of music. The Medieval period was a time where music was just taking place and curiosity filled the air. When I think of the Medieval times I think of knights in shining armor, and fairytale like princes and princesses living in brick castles. The textbook describes this time periods music as just a single free flowing line with a vocal line. They were just introduced with adding poetry into their music, so it was a start of something new for them.

The composer I decided to pick was named Perotin (1200), and I listened to his song Beata Viscera. This piece was very beautiful in a way where I really felt like I was physically living in the Medieval era. The song sounded like it could be the background music for the movie Narnia because it was so fitting and a bit spooky in a way. I think the way the textbook described this genre of music was spot on because there weren’t many instruments or other sounds heard in this piece. It really was just one string of music and a vocal line. Although there wasn’t much that went to create this piece, this song gave me the chills and goosebumps. However, when I thought of music from the medieval era, I thought more of a dancing and upbeat genre of music. This is because when I pictured the medieval era I pictured knights on horses jousting and celebrating with a cup of beer, at a pub dancing. Except, this piece by Perotin sounded like a church affiliated type of music, and definitely not a song you would dance to.