Secular+Music+of+the+Renaissance

jMaclarey Think of genres, like they are books. You have fiction, but inside of fiction, you have mystery, adventure, and distopian. The three types of genres are secular, instrumental, and sacred. Some genres inside secular music are the madrigal, the frottola, the caccia, and many different versions of the chanson. In these genres they have different pieces of music, or songs, that were catagorized in this genre because of the way that they were written and played. Secular music was non-religious and was banned from churches for not being prayers to God. The most popular type of song during the Renaissance was a madrigal. Madrigals were usually sung by a choir not accompanied by any instruments. During the Renaissance instruments were considered to be less important than voices (Fuller). Often times an instrument would accompany a singer, but only for background effects. They also had songs sung by multiple choirs which was called polychoral music (Fuller).

Often a singer would dance to a song sung by himself or another choir and thus begun ballet. (Langly 54-55) Dancing was a large part of expression throughout the Renaissance, but was usually played by instruments (Langley 54-55). Though they accompanied singers, most instruments were meant for the outdoors, such as the sackbut or trombone, crumhorn, viol, lute or guitar, and the trumpet (valve less) (Fuller).

The virginal was another very popular instrument throughout the Renaissance (Fuller). As an ancestor of the piano, it was a usually played with a choir also. One of the most historical books full of this music was the “Fitzwilliam Virginal Book” which held over 300 pieces of histories most famous songs and tunes (Fuller).

Some of the Renaissance’s greatest musical composers based all of their music on the main characteristics of Renaissance music. Most of these characteristics are still used today amongst composers and artists. During the Renaissance they divided all musical instruments into families (Langley 54-55). In most non-religious songs and dances instruments were played. Most of the music was based mainly on modes while the accidentals smoothly slid in (Fuller). On the page the bass part was placed below the tenor which was the first time they started organizing music in such a way (Fuller). They preferred the music to flow together than to have an odd comparison in the mid-sections. They wanted the music to seem harmonizing and calming, especially within the string sections (Fuller).

There are also many genes of instrumental music. Many of the genres known are the toccata, the prelude, the ricercar, the canzona, and the intabulation. All of these were very famous throughout the Renaissance and were played at consorts. Consorts are when instruments all from the same family play together(Langly 54-55). A broken consort is when a group of instruments from different families play together(Langley 54-55).

In conclusion, these two genres were both a big part in the Renaissance. Though they had few, their genres were more complicated than any of the music today (kind of), but only to the extent that their music came from their hearts and today, its almost all about looking like a "Gangsta", or being a "Mac", or being an Master of Ceremonies. If you liked this, you might also like: Sacred Music Art clothing and fashion Fuller, Richard. "Renaissance Music 1450-1600." //rpfuller.com//. N.p., 14th January 2010. Web. 15 Mar 2012. [].

Langley, Andrew. "Music and Leisure." //Da Vinci & His Times//. Ed. Carey Scott. New York City: DK Publishing, Inc., 2006. 54-55. Print. .