As sacred music grew in abundance during the Middle Ages it became necessary to come up with a way of recording the churches many pieces of music. The earliest form of sacred music recorded during the Middle Ages is known as Gregorian Chant. Gregorian Chant is monophonic, consisting of a single-line melody, and uses free-verse rhythm. Free verse rhythm means the singer may choose to sing the piece to whatever rhythm he or she chooses. Over three thousand Gregorian Chants are preserved and nearly all of them

Secular music in the medieval period was written and performed mostly by minstrels and wandering bards. They would wander from town to town and from court to court improvising their music as they went along. A different level of these minstrels developed in the royal courts of Southern France, known as poet-musicians. These poet-musicians provided secular music for dancing, dinner, after-dinner entertainment, ceremonies, tournaments, civic procession, and supported military campaigns. This aristocratic class of musicians had a profound influence on European culture. These musicians used a wide variety of instruments. Some of the more notable ones are the psaltery, dulcimer, and vielle.

The Middle Ages saw a dramatic evolution of music and the development of the notation system that has continued to evolve through our present day.

Between the years 850 and 1150 a new style of music was born known as polyphony. This is the simultaneous singing or playing of two

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 658
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)