Queen's Royal Musicians example essay topic

Entertainment In the cities, entertainment was very important. People wanted to have fun. They wanted to clear their minds after days of non-stop working. Without entertainment, the workers would have been angry every day and would not have gotten enough work done. When the workers went to work in a good mood, they got their jobs done very fast, because their minds were clear of any problem that was troubling them. Taverns were very popular.

They were like today's bars. Men liked to go to taverns to drink and have a good time. They also met their friends and talked to them about the day's news. Women served as barmaids.

They took people's orders and served them their food and drinks. A popular drink at the time was called mead. It was made of fermented honey. It was very sweet, yet intoxicating. It was kept in barrels outside of the tavern.

Sometimes, when the temperature changed, the barrels would burst open. Men from all around the city would come with their mugs to get free drinks. Taverns also served food. People could sit in tables and order whatever they want to eat.

They could pick between 4 types of drinking vessels: pottery, leather, wooden, or glass. The taverns did not supply eating utensils. People had to bring them from home. People who did not bring them had to eat with their hands. Since many of the poor people ate with their hands, people became used to it, and it did not look unusual. Trenchers were used to keep the food off of the tablecloth.

They were big bowls of stale bread. Saltcellars were also served, but they would cost extra. When travelers were eating, they would have to wipe their dirty boots on fresh layers of straw that were laid on the floor. After the meal, people could play games, such as dice, cards, and board games. Music was a very important part of the Renaissance culture. People were not considered educated if they did not study music.

Whether a royal musician or a street peddler, a world without music would not be the same. Instruments were very primitive at that time. However, complexity and quality were added as people played and upgraded instruments. There were three major types of musicians. One, the most common, was the street musician. Street musicians were very common and could be found on every corner.

The street musicians played melodic instruments, such as the guitar or occasionally the violin, because they wanted to sound cheerful while playing all alone. Street musicians played little tunes that they made up while they played. The next type of musician was the classical composer. Being a composer during that time was a hard job because the composers had to listen to their music played by an orchestra, and assemble everything. Composers did not have a very stable job, for they could sit for nearly an entire year composing a single arrangement and receive no pay until an orchestra willed to buy the music. Also, there were no female composers.

The people of the Renaissance believed that the woman's mind was not set for hard jobs. The third type of musician, which was by far the best job, was to be one of the king or queen's royal musicians. Jobs in this field included the Royal Orchestra, which employed 100 or more musicians and the queen's royal trumpeters. A royal musician was a steady job, with steady pay, food, and an opportunity to become famous. The queen's Royal Orchestra played classical music, mainly that of the strings, with an occasional brass introduction for special occasions.