the Renaissance or Renaissance for any American viewers is dated between 1400 and 1600 ad and marks the second half of what we call the early period of Western music the first half being medieval era which we looked at last month if you missed this click the annotation to watch it now the Renaissance was a huge shake-up of creative thought in the Western world with 14th century Florence at the epicenter this was largely due to the relative political and economic stability of the time as well as the spreading of literacy and education there's an apparent understanding of perspective and geometry in artworks a rethinking of diplomacy in politics and we also work out how to manufacture concrete so that's also good additionally man increased interest in ancient Greek and Roman philosophy led to some focus on humanitarian issues or the theological ones indeed opera was intended to be a modern recreation of ancient Greek drama people were actually able to focus on and enjoy the arts rather than use them as a form of worship the increased demand for music as a form of entertainment was something which could be exploited commercially and this extended to the home where families began to perform music sing and dance recreationally families began to own keyboards and other instruments and richer families would have higher virtuoso musicians to play for them privately so the first composer we're looking at is John Dunstable an English composer from the late medieval and early Renaissance periods he was highly influential composing in the service of John of Lancaster brother to the then King Henry the fifth and was also a keen astronomer mathematician and astrologer Renaissance composers began to rely on the interval of the third which was considered dissonant and that means unpleasant and during the medieval period this allowed for greater emotional content in music as it's the third which gives chords a major or a minor sound full triads were commonplace in the 15th century increased use of major and minor feel could have helped musicians develop expression and personality in their playing either through composition techniques or through articulation and performance techniques interestingly it's easy to see a correlation between increasing complexity and art and religious music during the Renaissance although the majority of the Renaissance music was broadly speaking religious the church was beginning to loosen its grip on composers allowing them to take influence from art geometry or mythology rather than just jesus or satan or whatever been this period composers began to be revered as celebrities with people taking an interest in their personal lives one such composer was Thomas Tallis who served under four different monarchs he's widely accepted as one of the church's best early composers he and William Byrd were granted the exclusive license to preach music in England by Queen Elizabeth the first a large factor in the development of scales and harmony was the unification of musical language helped in no small amount by Johannes Gutenberg's printing press this was able to exactly duplicate manuscripts for commercial distribution we also see the diversification of musical styles in this time an interesting example is the European Mexican hybrid works from the Spanish of Mexico this made use of native Mexican language and European musical practices Antonio de Salazar was a Spanish composer who moved to Mexico in his 30s around 1688 and would eventually rise to a position in Mexico City Cathedral during the Renaissance groups of performers began to develop into specific ensembles in each of which had a particular name based on their particular situation by a van for example was a slow and stately dance with two beats to a bar the Galliard would follow the performance of a Pathan and was quicker in pace with three beats to bar a Courant was a French ensemble performed in triplet time played by two violins a viola and a harpsichord a consort was played like a dance by an individual or small group of musicians in England this was the name given to a group of similar instruments a broken consort or group of different instruments blended together is one would lead to in the Baroque Orchestra in the 17th century we'll be looking at that next month a Madrigal is a secular vocal composition usually unaccompanied with around three to six voices often the singing in Polynesia unaccompanied choral music was popular at this time but instruments also continued to develop instrumental music would also develop but not reach the same level of popularity in addition to trumpets guitars and haha sack pots mentioned in the last video there were three important developments the Crump horn yes chrome horn was a common woodwind instrument from the Renaissance it is constructed similarly to the bagpipe with a player blowing in one and place some fingers over holes to vary the pitch it is shapes like letter J which directs the sound towards the player keyboard instruments like those of the harpsichord family appeared in the early 16th century visually they resemble a grand piano but sound a little more like an acoustic guitar to the modern ear one notable composer for the harpsichord was Englishman William Byrd organs were used in religious ceremonies but also began making appearances and family homes that rich of the family the bigger the organ usually so to summarize the Renaissance was the period in which music and the arts usually used as forms of worship became accessible to a mainstream audience from home a lesser focus on the worship is what allowed artists to pursue their individual talents for their own sake if you liked this video what perhaps my voice please consider liking subscribing and watching next month where we'll be looking at the Baroque period goodbyes