[4 monks entering large church, organ music in background, narrator speaking:] To tell the story of music in the middle ages is to tell the story of the music heard in the chapels, and cloisters of the church. [video of old streets] True, the peasants and nobles at that time had songs to mark good times, and bad, but that too most often had its roots in religion.

[video inside church, chants being sung] In the cathedrals and monasteries in the Middle Ages a unique kind of music was heard. The songs were chanted with a single line often a prayer for guidance or peace, sung over and over again in a gentle rising and falling rhythm. This music was thought to calm the soul, and purify the mind, and keep it focused on thoughts of God. [monks singing chant]

[painting of monks] Throughout the centuries, chants had been preserved by oral traditions. Without the aid of written music. An older monk, or clergyman taught a younger one the chants that he had memorized over the years, and the younger monk then passed them on in turn. Each region of Europe developed it’s own local versions of the chants. When King Carlemagne came to power, late in the eighth century, he wanted to bring together people that had been fighting for generations. One means of uniting people was through music. He ordered singers from Rome to teach chants approved by the Pope to all the singers of his realm. A legend soon developed that these chants had been inspired by God and dictated by the Pope Gregory the Great by the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove. [painting of illuminated manuscripts]  A musical notation using symbols called memes was developed to record the chants, and to help them remain pure. This was one of the earliest examples of music being written down in a formal way. This early system has developed in the notes, and scales that we use today. The Gregorian chants endured as the main form of church music throughout the Middle Ages. [more chanting]