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The ancient Greek songs were inseparable from poetry and dancing. The early Greek songs were entirely monodic. In fact the earliest Greek songs are virtually unknown. The chief instrument used during this period was the phorminx. The phorminx is a lyre that was used to accompany the Greek singers from nomoi.
Nomoi are short traditional phrases that were repeated. The earliest known Greek songs artist was Terpander of Lesbos during the 7th cent. B.C. Some of the other main instruments that were used at this time were the aulos and kithara.
Aulos is a type of oboe that is associated with the cult of Dionysus, and the kithara is a type of lyre that is associated with Apollo and restricted to religious and hymnic use. This classical style of composition in the Greek songs has simply decayed in the last quarter of the 5th cent. B.C.
The new style, which emerged in the 4th century B.C, resulted in the rise of professional musicians in the scene of the Greek songs. This style of Greek songs was marked by the usage of subjective ex-pression, free forms, a more elaborate form of melody and rhythms, and also chromaticism.
The chief musical figures of the Greek songs were Phrynis of Mitylene, his pupil Timotheus of Miletus, and the dramatist Euripides. Finally, ancient Greek songs lost their vitality and dwindled to insignificance under the Roman domination.
In the Greek song history and culture there were two systems of musical notation:
- Vocal
- Instrumental
Both of these systems are still problematic. In spite of the prominent position that the Greek songs enjoyed in the cultural life of ancient Greece, only 15 musical fragments of the Greek songs still exist.
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