The Importance of Music in Ancient Greece

In Greece, music is one of the unbelievable diversities that are highly valued due to the creative assimilations of different inspirations of the Western and Eastern cultures of Europe and Asia by the Greeks. In Greek’s daily culture, music is a significant aspect. The history of music can be traced back to the days of antiquity. During this era, music, poetry and dancing remained to be inseparable. Therefore, they played a crucial role in the everyday life of the ancient Greece. Music was used by the Greek tragedy as one of the most significant component element. Therefore, music has been of great importance in as far as Greece is concerned.

Pythagoras and Music

Music played a very significant role in the understanding and development of Pythagorean theory. In the ancient Greece, the knowledge available today concerning the frequencies and wavelength of sound did not exist. Therefore, they did not understand the concept of music as a physical exhibition of the harmonic pitches and several series. They depended on mathematics in understanding musical science. Pythagoras who was a famous musician was able to explain some aspects of music and his theory. He believed that every value that included the pitches would be expressed in ratio terms. Thus, the music of ancient Greece was produced from 2:1, 4:3 and 3:2 ratios. These ratios later became the reflection of the harmony between music and mathematics.

Music knowledge was needed by the ancient Greeks and whoever was able to sing was accountable. Most of the young kids grew up knowing that a musician man was one who was much educated. Aristotle and Plato recognized and highlighted the power of music as they introduced the theory of psychosomatic influence of music. Pericles and Socrates who were teachers argued that music was a clear reflection of movement of different souls. The two roles were based on the fact that music would affect the morals of those who listened to it by ensuring that they would act on their weaknesses and passions. They also believed that music would also be able to affect the horse section of the soul by presenting therapeutic effects. It proved that the therapeutic and educational value of music would not be denied. Music also became part of the tradition which later developed into a whole literature for the ancient Greek and was imbued by referring to music. The Olympian gods and mythologies regarded it as one of the Greek’s four sciences that were considered sacred (Solanki et al 198).

Music and Pleasure

Music served the purpose of entertaining and pleasure for the Greek adults. It was one of the staple elements that marked any symposium and even all the drinking parties that had been formed. After eating, men would sing a song with lyre. The songs were backed up with barbiton, which was the backing music. For the women, they enjoyed their music in a private environment such as their homes. Children also sang different songs at the door whenever they wanted sweets and small-change.

In recap, music has been of great significance to the history and culture of Greece. It has been able to advance the knowledge of the Greeks in as far as Pythagorean theory is related to music. It was also a source of entertainment to most of the people. It was also a sense of pride as being educated was related to being a musician man.

Work Cited

Solanki, Madhusudan Singh, Mehnaz Zafar, and Rajesh Rastogi. “Music as a therapy: role in psychiatry.” Asian journal of psychiatry 6.3 (2013): 193-199.