Greek Music: Then and Now

Ancient Greece was a mecca of art, culture, philosophy, and societal change, and luckily many of these great achievements are still standing or are on display. One thing that cannot be found and preserved is the melodic music that filled the streets of Greece in these formative years. Music is essential to any culture, and based on the depiction of music and instruments in various art forms we can assume that this is true of Ancient Greece. In my research I will explore how music affected the culture of Greece, how it influenced their religious traditions, the origins of their instruments, and what musicologists believe the music could have sounded like. Then, during our faculty-led trip to Athens March 23-30 2019, I will be going to onsite research centers, such as the National Archeological Museum, the Museum of Cycladic Art, among other museums and historical sites and will find pieces of art and artifacts of life and music that substantiate my literary research. The second phase is to find live music of Athens, from street performers to musicians in coffee shops and restaurants to see if there are any ancient influences and if modern music has the same large impact on the culture and atmosphere of Athens today; I will then compare and contrast the old and the new.