3º E.S.O. MUSIC
Dance and instruments
All ancient civilizations practiced dancing as a way of accompaniment and celebration of all kinds of social events. But the arrival of Christianism tried to eliminate dancing, associated with pagan rites. However, profane or even religious celebrations were still accompanied by dances.
Since the 12th century we find references to dancing. Some of them sung and others exclusively instrumental. In many manuscripts, these dances appear with the generic name estampie. They use monodic textures and are structured in several phrases that are repeated.
The Feast of the Donkey was a medieval Christian feast that took place on January 14 and celebrated the Flight into Egypt. It had as its protagonist the donkey on the run. A mass was celebrated in which the officiant played the role of a donkey and then a procession took place. It was celebrated mainly in France.
Dance of the death of Verges.
Its origin coincides with the appearance of the Black Death and it was danced as a way to expel the evil of the plague.
Instruments
There is a great variety of instruments, and there are a lot of names for them. The instrumental performance is improvised and it has two functions: to accompany songs and the performance of dances processions.
The most used instruments were string instruments (harp, lyra, psaltery, viola), wind instruments (horn, trumpet, chirimia, flutes, bagpipes, organ) and percussion instruments (hand drums, cymbals, triangle, bells).
