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Damon, an Athenian philosopher of the late 5th century, “developed the first extensive theory of musical ethos. He named and catalogued a set of modal scales, describing their notes, rhythms and qualities. He also commended and condemned different rhythms and tempi.Damon’s most influential theory of ethos, however, came from his belief that dance and song arose from motions of the soul (Damon 1). In his treatise, he stated the primary tenet of all Greek musical ethics, that “liberal and beautiful songs and dances create a similar soul, and the reverse kind create a reverse kind of soul”According to this theory, music creates motions and patterns in the soul that mirror the quality of the music. Thus, the notes “mold through similarity a nonexistent ethos in children and in those already advanced in age and bring out a latent ethos”For this reason, Damon maintained that music should portray courage, moderation, and justice (Anderson 39). Through this imitation, similar motions would arise in the soul and produce the same qualities in those playing, singing, or listening to the music. Since music, according to Damon, possessed this power, it possessed a large potential for either good or harm to Greek culture.Musical styles are nowhere altered without (changes in) the most important laws of the state” (Anderson 41).He believed this so firmly that he published an essay addressed to the Areopagus Council, the Athenian assembly responsible for judicial functions and public morality, arguing that it was the duty of the state to regulate music and music education (West 246).” Autumn Gurgel Running head: Roots and Theories of the Doctrine of Ethos
GREEK WORDS Melos : Noun for song – root of Melody Harmonia : Plutarch says that for Pythagoras and his disciples, the word harmonia meant "octave" in the sense of an atonement which manifests within its limits both the proper fitting together of the concordant intervals, fourth and fifth, and the difference between them, the whole tone.(from IMAGES Attic Red Figure Stamnos. Louvre. Attic Red Figure Lekythos, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston Attic Red Figure Bell Krater. Harvard University Museum.
We know from drama and poetry that Greeks were far more susceptible to suggested visual imagery than we are, it may well be that their impressions of a poem or a play approach the immediacy and dynamism we find in a well crafted cinematic performance, which makes the audience feel it is actually "there". Music seems to have impressed the Greeks just as deeply, and this continued well into the Classical period; different scales or "modes" suggested excitement, quiet, contemplation, or even frightening ecstasy. With a wider acoustic-psychological range, the Greeks may have felt a broader spectrum of emotions from music than we know William Harris, Land and Climate in the Greek Myths
The nine muses , , , Preliminary version , Oxford University Press (August, 2001) , ISBN: 019815223X
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