Today's Western classical music was not born overnight. It is a long process which has its origins in the sacred music of the Middle Ages. War, disease, famine, political unrest, and scientific advances brought changes not only in the way music was perceived, but also in the way it was presented, giving modern Western classical music its rich history today. In medieval times, the Catholic Church controlled every aspect. of life. The Church educated the nobles, advised the rulers, presided over judgments and was the spiritual guide of the people. The church itself was generally the only stone building in the village and was central to the life of the time as it was where festivals, baptisms, weddings and death rites took place. While there was secular music in the courts of nobles, most music was sacred. Plain chant was the official music of the church and each chant had a specific time or condition of use depending on the liturgy. The pitch at which the song was sung was called the pitch of the recitation. The simplest form of plainchant was a short phrase sung before or after a psalm, called an antiphon. A more complicated form of plainsong was the sequence, where a melody is sung twice to different words. One of the first forms of organum, the parallel organum, is where plainsong was sung to two different melodies at the same time. According to Timothy Dickey, the four-part organum is generally attributed to Perotin, a 12th-century composer of the Notre-Dame School, whose works are recorded in the Magnus Liber located in Notre-Dame Cathedral. The three and four voice organum is called Notre-Dame Organum. An example of this is Perotin's Alleluia. Diffusa est gratia, which is a song composed to worship the ...... middle of paper ...... instrument. The evolution of music, from the single-note plainchants of the Middle Ages to the multiple, complex instrumental symphonies of the classical era, was a long process. Each era built on the advances of the previous era, even if some parts were rejected by the next era. Ultimately, advancements and changes in the ways and means of combining rhythm, melody, and harmony create a rich musical legacy and a foundation upon which future musicians can build. Works Cited Dickey, Timothy. "Pérotin (12th C.-13th C.); FRA." Pérotin. Classical Archives, 2008. Web. November 8, 2013. Kerman, Joseph and Gary Tomlinson. Listen. Bedford/St. Martin's, 2011. CD. Kerman, Joseph and Gary Tomlinson. Listen. 7th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2012. Print. Oakley, Thomas P. “Religion and the Middle Ages.” Catholic culture. Trinity Communications, 2013. The web. November 8. 2013.