Music of ancient greece was reletively different from the other music around that time period. The music was generally ballad like reciting of epic poems over bongo drums. The word music actually comes from the term Muses which was the daughter of Zeus and the patron goddess of creativity and intellectual endeavers. Plato described the music as somewhat sacred and each person listening silently sat and mused about the music as it was being played. Greeks learned the laws of music through religious ceremonies and other forms of social activity. Playing whatever "sounded good" was defined as not following the laws of music as it was intented to be about the lyrics.
Music played an important role in society. It basically praised their existence and how it came into play out. It also praised religion greatly as alot of it was formed into a form of worship towards their gods; generally about Zuess.
While the most common category of music played was percussion, there were some stringed and wind instruments used. The stringed instruments used were struck such as the piano, but they were mostly bowed or plucked such as the violin or the guitar. Some wind instruments instruments used were the oboe and the flute. Some uncommon instruments were: the lyre which was a stringed instrument generally made out of a turtle shell with seven strings; the aulos which was somewhat like the oboe but instead consisting of two pipes held between the players lips and created a clarinet like sound.
Some important musicians of the time period were Eleusis of 907 who perfected the trumpet, Dionysus who perfected the compostion of the music, and Europides who also perfected the trumpet and some concussion instruments.
The music of ancient greece greatly infuenced the music of ancient rome and even up into todays music. Some of the melodic forms of the music can be traced into most classical music which was formed into music that eventually led to musical methods that are still used today. Some of the music can even be linked to progressive rock under certain conditions. The most famous contribution ancient greek music played was actually the influence of the religion. By the means of music, the melodies spread to other cultures and ifluenced their religious outlook and even spread throughout the world enough to become basis of most religions still used today.
