Kayla's and Courtney's Blog Post!

This blog is about magic, witches, potions, and spells in Medieval Times. Witchcraft refers to the use of certain occult and spiritual practices to seek the assistance of the supernatural powers in resolving the problems whose solutions can not be achieved through the known rational means. 


http://www.witchcraft.com.au/medieval-witchcraft.html


Men also performed these prayers or rituals, not only women. Witchcraft was mainly practiced back then because human knowledge was just beginning. Using it helped them find solutions to things they couldn't figure out. Some went to extremes. For example, they would use blood, sacrifice an animal, or call up on evil spirits for help. 

Witchcraft invovled the use of spells. Witches and worelocks used spells to harm, manipulate, dominate, or control other people.
This is illegal in the witchcraft world! Spells are used by Wiccians. They are a series of rituals and prayers that are conducted in witchcraft to ask for divine help in a certain aspect of life. In witchcraft a spell may be changed or adapted to suit to a certain personality or specific wishes.



~POTIONS~

A potion is usually made by a witch, they may be used to heal, bewitch, or poison people. Some potions include love potions and sleep potions. Potions are portrayed as spells in liquid form.
They can cause infactuation, sleepness, love, and invisibility.
Some also believe this was why witches had the ability to fly long distances.

A few ingredients used in potions are:
Almond Oil, Bat Blood, Belladonna, Cinquefoil, Datura, Foxglove,Cicuta, Henbane, Mandrake, Monkshood, Parsley, Alamo, Amapola, Smallage, SootSweet, FlagToad Stool, Water Lilies, and Wild Celery.

We're not sure what type of music witches listened to while they were using spells and potions, so we're going to talk about the music in the medieval times.

During Medieval times they used many of the same instruments we use today except in different forms. For example, the flute was made with wood instead of silver like it is today. Early in the Medieval Period came a genre called liturgical. In this genre there was the Gregorian Chant. It celebrated Mass and other ritual services. Also includes texts and some melodies that date back to several centuries earlier.

In conclusion, Kayla and I enjoyed learning about the spells and potions used in witchcraft and the music they made and listened to during the Medieval Times.

My First Blog Post

Hello, my name is Courtney Sexton. This is my first blog post for music appreciation. We listened and discussed many time periods of music such as: 
Ancient Greek and Roman, 
Medieval (900-1450), 
Renniassance (1450-1600), 
Baroque Period (1600-1750), 
Classical Period (1750-1825),   
Romantic/Impressionistic/Nationalistic (1825-1900), 
Early 20th Century (Jazz, etc.), 
and Late 20th Century's popular music (1950's-present).

We also studied a few key terms in music. We learned the meanings of the words monophonic, polyphonic, and homophonic.  
Monophonic means one sound. Polyphonic means multiple melodies at once    Homophonic is a primary melody with a supporting background. We learned of the elements of music which we had to speak about every time we listened to a new song or genre. 

We learned about rhythm, melody, harmony, and texture. 
Rhythm is a unit or "beat" repeating itself in a piece of music. The melody is the arrangement of sounds. A harmony is any combination of notes sounded or occurring at the same time. Texture is the way several voices or instruments interact with each other in a piece of music. We described the music's texture by being either "thick" or "thin." Thick, in my own words, is having a lot going on in a piece of music, and thin is little going on and being able to pick out or name what you can hear. 


Classical Period

Classical is used to describe a variety of western musical styles. Some of the best known composers of this period are: Joseph Hadyn, Mozart, Beethoven, and Schubert. Beethoven is also sometimes considered as a Romantic composer.

Early 20th Century (Jazz)

Jazz was my favorite type of music we listened to in here. It originated in African American communities and influenced by African and European music traditions. Jazz has split into many different subgenres. Some of the instruments used in jazz music is:
Saxophone, Clarinet, Flute, Vibraphone, Trumpet, Piano, Guitar, Banjo, Tuba, Double Bass, Bass Guitar, Vocals, Trombone, and Drum Kit.

Overall I really enjoyed everything we listened to and I really enjoy 
this class.