Greek+Music

**By Daniel L.**
 * Συμφωνική της Ελληνικής Μουσικής: Symphony of Greek Music**

Did you know that music was around during ancient times in Greece? Music was a big part of a person’s everyday life back then. For some people in Greece, making instruments was their life. However, for anyone who did not make instruments, music was primarily in one’s lifestyle because of entertainment and mythology.

There are three categories of. The first kind is chordophones, or stringed instruments. All of these instruments are played by being strummed; there are no records of bows being used. The two main types of chordophones are the lyre and the harp. The lyre has 3-7 strings, and even 12 sometimes. The two sides are connected by a bar crossing the top. The two arms are also fixed to a hollow tortoise shell or a carved piece of wood. There are many lyre types. The oldest one is the forminx. The one that uses a tortoise shell is called the chelis (based on the Greek word for tortoise). is also the kithara, lyra, and varvitos, or long armed. There is also the trigonon. It is not a lyre, but instead a small harp that is held on one’s lap. ( Basic Musical Instruments in Ancient Greek Music ) The next category is called the aerophones. These instruments are all wind instruments, meaning you must blow into them. These are classified into two types, those being auloi (with a reed) and syringes (without a reed). The aulos is an instrument that was considered most treasured in all of Ancient Greece. It is an auloi that is made of cane, bone, metal, or wood and has holes screwed into the top. It has a mouthpiece with either one or two reeds. Most people played two aulos at once by tying them to their head with a leather band. This band is called a forbeia. The other major aerophone is a syringe called a syrinx. The Greeks used the word syrinx to say what we consider today to be a pan flute. It is made up of 3-18 pipes stuck together by wax. Herdsmen used this the most, so it was attributed to the god Pan (thus, the pan flute). ( Basic Musical Instruments in Ancient Greek Music )

The last and final category of instruments are the membranophones, or percussion. These consisted of a large variety. The krotala is like a current castanet in the way it looked and played. The timpani is like our modern day African hand drum. However, only women could play this instrument. The sistrum was made of a handle and U-shaped frame with crossbars. They also had hand cymbals. ( Basic Musical Instruments in Ancient Greek Music )

Music had a huge part to do with entertainment. Music was used in theatre, and they also had concerts, just like us in the modern world. The Greeks had a stadium built for concerts called The Odeion of Perikles. It was considered a testimony to music in Athenian culture. Most men trained to sing and dance in choral performances. People also used music to entertain themselves while working. Herdsmen sing while they harvest. Stay at home wives sung while they managed. Overall, music was used in people’s everyday lives to entertain themselves. (Music in Ancient Greece)

Music was deeply linked to Greek mythology, especially when it came to instruments. For example, the lyre was linked to the god Apollo. According to the mythology of Greece, Hermes invented the lyre when Apollo was chasing him. Hermes stumbled on a tortoise shell and found it made a good sound. He made the lyre and gave it to Apollo to please him. Another example is the aulos. According to Greek mythology, Athena made it. However, she saw her face distort in water when she played it. She hated the distortion so much, that she threw it all the way to Frygia. There, Marsyas found it. She became able to play it very well and challenged Apollo to a competition. Apollo won and punished him by flaying Marsyas alive. Those are just a couple of many myths about Greek instruments and how they were made. ( Basic Musical Instruments in Ancient Greek Music )

Music was a big part of people’s everyday lives in Ancient Greece. Ancient Greek music was the start of our modern music cultures; without it, we would not have the music we have today.

Works Cited "Basic Musical Instruments in Ancient Greek Music." //Greek Music Information Center//. Web. 30 Nov. 2010. . "Music in Ancient Greece" //The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York: Metmuseum.org//. Web. 30 Nov. 2010. . Mathiesen, Thomas. "Ancient Greek Music." Web. 30 Nov. 2010. . Nardo, Don. //Living in Ancient Greece//. San Diego, CA: Greenhaven, 2004. Print. Scott, Carey. //Ancient Greece//. New York, NY: DK Pub., 1998. Print.