Music of the Ancient Greeks

Philip Neuman plays the salpinx.

Actual ancient kymbala.

Gayle Neuman plays the lyre.

We heard that Ensemble De Organographia was performing, and we didn't want to miss it. We saw this duo of Philip and Gayle Newman last year, but since then we've learned a lot about ancient Greece and Rome.  We are still reading through the Roman Mysteries, and the main characters often play music.  So this time, Jasper took a lot more interest in the music and instruments.   What they have to say about the music is pretty fascinating, especially the lengths they went to in order to find the music and recreate the instruments.  Few instruments from that time survive.  Their salpinx was modeled after one of the few; at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston.  They traveled around the classical world to research the music and instruments. They modeled one of their lyre from a depiction in an ancient mosaic, and made a discovery about how it was played from a sculpture.  They do own one precious 2,000 year old instrument, kymbala (a pair of cymbols).  Musical notation from ancient Greece is especially difficult to track down, despite the fact that it was such an important part of their lives.  Musical notation has survived as fragments of papyrus,  and as carvings on tombs and temples. Hearing it played with occasional vocal accompaniment is strange and beautiful.  Ensemble De Organographia has a CD of the music of ancient Greece, as well as a cd with some much older music, of the ancient Sumerians and Egyptians.