By medieval times, instruments began to be used in liturgical music to supplement the voices. This was a big step in the evolution of European music because musicians were previously seen as profane entertainers who busked in the streets for money performing ribald numbers that were often out-and-out obscene (“My man, John, had a thing that was long / My maid, Mary, had a thing that was hairy / My man, John, stuck his thing that was long / Into my maid Mary's thing that was hairy” etc.). So musicians were somewhat shunned in polite society but as their services were being employed increasingly in various settings such as part of the town’s security by sounding their instruments when something was amiss and for social functions, they gained more respect and the Church inevitably began to incorporate them. The earliest musicians to perform in church were the “town musicians” of the 13th century. They were known in England as
waits, as
Stadtpfeifer in Germany and as
pifferi in Italy. They were virtually all horn or reed players who formed into guilds, i.e. an early form of the musicians’ union. These were not the really the first orchestras but forerunners. Orchestras had set instruments for specific purposes while these loose assemblages of musicians simply played whatever their instruments would permit with none playing any set part.
Polyphony started to become an important part of the European music in the 13th century both in religious and secular settings. About this time, Europe saw the rise of the motet which originated in Northern France. The plainchant was given a rhythmic meter. This line was overlaid by one to three lines of different text and then all were sung simultaneously producing rich harmonic texture of true polyphony that sounded incomparably lovely:
Motet - Celui en qui - YouTube
Motet polyphony differed chiefly from organum heterophony in that the harmonic parts were given equal weight as the main part and all were written out. In the organum, the harmony singer or singers merely droned a note or an interval while the main line was sung. There was no direction as to which notes were droned—that was left up to the singers, whatever worked. In the motet, the harmony voices vary considerably from the main and with one another producing distinctive contrasts.
One of the best known motet composers was a priest named Guillaume de Machaut (c. 1300-1377). Not only does he qualify as an early composer but, amazingly, his entire catalog has been preserved. He wrote masses and secular songs of courtly and unrequited love which was very unusual for a Church figure. This makes Machaut important because, through him, there was no need for an evolution from sacred to secular; Machaut provided both at once.
Guillaume de Machaut - Fine Amour - YouTube
What the sacred music lacked was instrumental accompaniment. The Church still viewed instrumental music as profane. The only musical instrument fit for God was he one He created—the human voice. In the secular world, however, there were no such restrictions. Traveling troubadours played instrumentals as well as vocal music with instrumental accompaniment. These instruments included the lute, the shawm, the rebec, the tambourine, the flute, etc.
Music of the Troubadours 6: Cantaben els osells - YouTube
By the 15th century, polyphony was so accepted that only the Church still performed monophonic chanting for the mass (and still does, still written in square notation on Guido’s staff lines). In the 14th century, there was experimentation with both polyphony and heterophony to producing some very rich and haunting music. Michaut’s love songs were usually performed to instrumental accompaniment:
Medieval Virelai Music & Song - XIII th & XIV th Century - E, Dame Jolie & Douce Dame Jolie - YouTube