Music 3802
Study Guide #1
Musical Life and Thought in Ancient Greece and Rome

Assignment: Grout and Palisca, Chapter 1
             Skim: 1-17*
             Read: 17-19 (bottom)
             Skim: 19 (bottom)-21
             Read: 21-29

Study Questions:

1. What were the religious functions of the Temple and the synagogue? What paral-
      lels do their services have with the early Christian services?--p.18-19

2. What were the principal early Western liturgies?--p. 21-22

3. What two national styles are fused in the body of chant as we now know it?--p.
      22-23

4. What were the various attitudes of the early Church Fathers towards music in the
      church? Why were they at times so extreme?--p. 25-26

5. Who was Boethius? Where did he get his material? What were his three divisions
      of music?--p. 27-29

 *You may pass over the specific discussion of Greek practical theory (p. 8-15), since this is a very difficult
      topic and does not relate clearly to later (medieval) practice). In fact, the one important point you may
      note from all this material is that it is almost totally foreign to what we know as Western music, pre-
      cisely because there was no clear stylistic (i.e., practical) influence from ancient Greece on the Middle
      Ages. The one important influence was Greek musical thought—what we call speculative (as opposed
      to practical) theory—, such as the role of music in education, the position of music in the cosmos, the
      mathematical basis for musical intervals and scales, and the psychological effect (ethos) of music (p.
      4—7).