Ancient Greek Music

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Some people have been trying to figure out what ancient Greek music might have sounded like. Here is a song played on a lyre. This is a version of the Song of Seikilos, which is the oldest complete piece of music that we have. It comes from the tombstone of a woman, and Seikilos was the man who put up her tombstone.

Again, we don't know for sure whether this is what Greek music really sounded like.

To find out more about Greek music, check out these books on Amazon.com or at your library:

Usborne Story of Music, by Eileen O'Brien (1998). For kids.

Music of the World, by Andrea Bergamini (1999). For teens.

Ancient Greek Music (Clarendon Paperbacks) by M. L. West (reprinted 1994). Not for kids, but it doesn't assume that you know a lot of music theory.

Music in Ancient Greece and Rome, by John G. Landels (2001). Mainly about the practical side of music rather than music theory - who played it, and where, and for whom?

Apollo's Lyre: Greek Music and Music Theory in Antiquity and the Middle Ages, by Thomas J. Mathiesen (2000) 0803230796 This one is more about Greek musical theory.

Music and the Muses: The Culture of Mousike in the Classical Athenian City, by Penelope Murray and Peter Wilson (2004).

Ancient Greek Music

To find out more about Greek music, check out these books on Amazon.com or at your library:

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