🏛️ Greece and Rome

In ancient Greece, music was everywhere: at festivals, in plays, at sports games and at school. Children learned to sing and play the lyre.

Lyre, kithara and aulos

The Greek lyre was a small string instrument, often made with a tortoise shell as its sound box. The kithara was a bigger, louder lyre that expert musicians played in contests. The aulos was a pair of pipes played at the same time, with reeds like an oboe, so it sounded buzzy and strong.

Pythagoras and the strings

Pythagoras was a Greek thinker who lived about 2,500 years ago. People say he discovered that musical notes follow number patterns. If you make a string half as long, it sounds an octave higher (a 2 to 1 ratio). If you make it two thirds as long, it sounds a fifth higher (a 3 to 2 ratio).

Roman loud instruments

The Romans liked big sounds. The tuba was a long, straight bronze trumpet (not like today's tuba). The cornu was a huge horn shaped like a letter G that wrapped around the player. Armies used them to send signals.