Friday, July 20, 2018 - 7:00 pm
Type of Event: 
Lecture
Event Location: 
Construction & Engineering Hall
Admission: 
Free

Keynote Speaker:  Tekla Bude, Assistant Professor, OSU, School of Writing, Literature and Film

Title: What Did Medieval Music Sound Like?

What was music in the medieval period, what did it sound like, and what did it mean? 

Our definitions of music, harmony, and noise are historically and culturally contingent. What is considered "music" in one context or one point in time might be considered "noise" in another.  This is true, historically, of both jazz and rap music, for instance, and was also true in the medieval period.  How did the medieval period define what was music, and what was merely noise?

This talk will explore how music was understood in the medieval period, before analog recording technologies meant that "music" could be faithfully captured in records, cd’s, or sound files.  How did medieval writers and artists capture the idea of sound?  This talk will also address how we, in the modern day, can interpret what music meant almost a thousand years ago.

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