Music and song was for the Romans, as for all peoples, a part of their culture from its beginning. It is impossible to separate the different aspects of ancient Roman culture from religion, and the development and use of music had a strong religious component, being an important part of funerals, weddings, and sacrifices. The tibia, a woodwind instrument, was used at sacrifices to ward off evil. Song and dance, often accompanied by music, was an integral part of the most common social interactions. Music was an important part of Roman Theater, formal games including chariot races and gladiator contests, and festivals. Musical education was considered part of a proper education for upper class males.
Several types of ancient Roman musical instruments are well known. There were percussion, stringed, woodwind, brass, and a form of bagpipes and even a type of hydraulic organ instruments in common use throughout the Roman world.
The ancient Romans used percussion instruments much the way modern musicians do. They would be used to keep time, maintain a rhythm, melody, harmony, and tempo to maintain the characteristic steady beat. Among the ancient Roman percussion instruments were drums and rattles as well as some similar to castanets, timpani, and tambourines. As the empire expanded, Rome borrowed instruments, such as the cymbala from Greece, from other cultures.
Stringed instruments such as the lute was also commonly used in ancient Rome. The lyre, a Greek innovation, was another common string instrument used in Roman music however, this instrument was gradually supplanted by the cithara, an instrument that was similar in function to a modern guitar (from which the word "guitar" is derived). The cithara was louder, had a greater range, and was more easily tuned than other stringed instruments.
Wind instruments included both woodwind and brass varieties. The most common woodwind instrument was the tibia, or Greek aulos, was a double-reed instrument like an oboe, but was divided into two pipes. Brass instruments included the tuba and the cornu. The tuba was unlike the modern tuba in that it was a small curved horn much like a French horn with a bell like a trumpet without valves to adjust the notes. This instrument was used as a bugle by the Roman military because it could produce great volume. The cornu was another long curved metal that curved around the musician’s body and was very much like a modern buccina. This was also used by the army to produce a variety of calls to the legionary soldiers and in military parades, such as the Roman triumph.
The hydraulis was a hydraulic pipe organ. To operate this instrument air was pumped into a chamber to compress the air in the pipes to produce a variety of pitches. There was also an instrument similar in appearance to bagpipes, but as no examples survive, it is not known whether the musician blew into the instrument of used some sort of bellows to produce the air pressure.
How the ancient Romans recorded musical compositions is not clearly understood. The Romans may have used the Greek method of 'enchiriadic notation' to record their music, using four letters (in English notation 'a', 'g', 'f' and 'c') indicated a range of four tones. Some later examples of written music indicate rhythm signs were written above the four letters to indicate the duration of each of the notes.
.One of the best ways to understand Roman music is to listen to some examples.
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