# Describe every period of music



## ethanjamesescano (Aug 29, 2012)

This thread will help me for my knowledge.
You can describe the era or type the commonly used techniques etc...
Here, I'll describe these in one word each

based on my observation...

Middle Ages : Religious
Renaissance : Secular
Baroque : Ornamentation
Classical : Form
Romantic : Emotion
Impressionist : Atmospheric

Modern

Avant-garde

Expressionist : Surprises
Minimalist : Repeating (after the piece, the tune always got stuck in my head)


Note: I described some of Modern genre and not as a whole


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

What do you intend to pay all those doing your research for you?

Try the HUGE Wikipedia article on classical music. It goes chronologically through all the periods, names aspects of the styles, stylistic developments from one era to the next, and lists hundreds of composers representative of each era.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classical_music

Once you've come to grips with some of the material there, I'm sure any number of TC members will happily exchange ideas with you and point you to more information.

Best regards.


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## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

ethanjamesescano said:


> Baroque : Ornamentation


It's a lot more than just ornamentation. Baroque is about counterpoint and polyphony. If you're only noticing the ornamentation you're doing it wrong. One word doesn't sum up an entire musical period.


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## starry (Jun 2, 2009)

Yeh you can look up stuff on the internet that will give you detailed insight into periods/styles. Your descriptions are too limited and to simplify something in one word is just like using soundbites and is probably more harm than good, may even just bring in stereotypes. Religious music is prominent through the first 3 periods at least.


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

starry said:


> Yeh you can look up stuff on the internet that will give you detailed insight into periods/styles. Your descriptions are too limited and to simplify something in one word is just like using soundbites and is probably more harm than good, may even just bring in stereotypes. Religious music is prominent through the first 3 periods at least.


a-yep, "Blisteringly reductive" is a phrase that comes to mind. Sound bytes might delude, give a sense of satisfaction, but are less than superficial in getting to the pith of it.


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## schuberkovich (Apr 7, 2013)

Sounds like someone's music homework ...


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

schuberkovich said:


> Sounds like someone's music homework ...


Just a titch, Vlad.... ;-o


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## bigshot (Nov 22, 2011)

I describe them all as... SASSY!


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## DrKilroy (Sep 29, 2012)

Medieval: monks
Renaissance: fart-sounding woodwinds
Baroque: curly wigs
Classicist: less curly wigs
Romantic: sadly, no wigs already
Modern/contemporary: no wigs at the moment, but we have to be patient!

Best regards, Dr


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## Selby (Nov 17, 2012)

Middle Ages - in awe of God
Renaissance - in cahoots with God
Baroque - God as entertainment
Classical - God is flashy
Romantic - God within me
Impressionist - God?
Modern - God is dead
Avant-garde - 12-God tones
Expressionist - Gaaawd
Minimalist - God God God God God God God God

Of course I'm being a bit cheeky


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## starry (Jun 2, 2009)

DrKilroy said:


> Medieval: monks
> Renaissance: fart-sounding woodwinds
> Baroque: curly wigs
> Classicist: less curly wigs
> ...


I think wigs went out of fashion around 1800 if I remember rightly.


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## DrKilroy (Sep 29, 2012)

True; and this was a mistake!

Best regards, Dr


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## chalkpie (Oct 5, 2011)

starry said:


> I think wigs went out of fashion around 1800 if I remember rightly.


Wrong, I saw a guy with a wig at the pizza place the other night.


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## Tapkaara (Apr 18, 2006)

Middle Ages: Barbarism, mystery and deep faith. Very dark.

Renaissance: Secular barbarism, a move away from the candle-lit darkness of the cathedrals.

Baroque: A reaction to the barbaric. Sophistication and elegance in gaudy amounts.

Classical: A reaction to the gaudiness of the baroque. Overly simplified music for an intelligentsia of limited creativity. Salon music. Stylish furniture.

Romantic: A reaction to the overly simplistic, two-dimentional aesthetic of the classical. An attempt to overwhelm and perhaps shock its audience with unbridled human emotion.

Impressionist: A reaction to emotions run too wild. A desire to create emotions without being to emotional. Subversive.

Modern: A reaction to the weepiness of romanticism and vagueness of impressionism. Hard-edged. Visceral. Provocative. Cold on the surface but borne of profound emotion, such as angst and desperation.

Avant-garde: Taking the shock-effect of modernism to the edge. Ugliness for the sake of ugliness. Failed experiments. Disingenuous music-making. More for the sake of though-provoking than true music making. Artifice. Charlatanism. 

Expressionist: Modern but meant to touch the soul. Shock without schlock. Pure human emotion yet still hard to understand by non-intellectuals.

Minimalist: A reaction to the anything goes attitude of the avant garde. Music had gone so far out that it had to be ultra-conservative to come back to some form of sanity.
Boiling music down to its purest elements. Tonality and rhythm.


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