https://cunnan.lochac.sca.org/api.php?action=feedcontributions&feedformat=atom&user=RampantWonder 2026-05-15T15:10:51Z User contributions MediaWiki 1.39.3 https://cunnan.lochac.sca.org/index.php?title=Polyphony&diff=29175 2006-09-23T05:37:28Z

<p>RampantWonder: Added early history of polyphony - organum</p> <hr /> <div>'''Polyphony''' refers to a texture in [[music]] consisting of two or more lines of melody occurring simultaneously.<br /> <br /> == History ==<br /> Polyphony began to appear in European churches during the eleventh century. Singers began to move away from singing solely in unison or doubling in octaves and singing truly independent, different parts. The development of musical notation at this time meant that these diverging parts could be accurately recorded and recreated. This allowed for a great deal more planning and structuring by composers of music, as well as a higher level of consistency and accuracy in performance.<br /> <br /> Monophony - music consisting of a single melody line - developed slowly to a form of polyphony called ''organum''. In simple organum, a principal melody is doubled at the interval of a fourth or fifth below. Either or both of these voices were sometimes doubled further at intervals of an octave.<br /> <br /> Further elaborations on organum developed, such as designating one of the lower voices a series of sustained pitches to hold as a drone while the upper voices moved along the melody proper. As the practice of writing different voices in differing rhythms became more popular, musical notation evolved to include symbols indicating approximate lengths of pitches to be sung.<br /> <br /> [[category:music]]</div>

RampantWonder https://cunnan.lochac.sca.org/index.php?title=Harp&diff=29174 2006-09-23T05:12:47Z

<p>RampantWonder: Added formal definition; historical detail</p> <hr /> <div>The '''harp''' is a [[musical instrument]] whose origins go back at least as far as 3,000 BC. The instrument is defined as an open frame over which is stretched a series of graduated strings, set in vibration by plucking with the fingers.<br /> <br /> The harp was one of the most important instruments of the [[Middle Ages]]; in particular the type of harp known as a Welsh Harp or ''telyn''. In Scotland, the small harp used as a solo instrument or to accompany singing was known as a ''clàrsach''. The harp remained almost exclusively a musical feature of the British Isles before it was imported to the Continent sometime before the ninth century.<br /> <br /> According to the [[Laws of Wales]], the three things necessary for a gentleman to posess were ''his harp, his [[cloak]] and his [[chess]]board''.<br /> <br /> [[Category:Musical instruments]]</div>

RampantWonder