Guests of the lecture will get acquainted with the melodies of the Middle Ages and learn how ancient thinkers and monks explained the meaning of music. The first lecture in the series "From Note to Beat" is dedicated to the Middle Ages and how the Western European musical tradition was formed. The lecture will be conducted by Igor Popov, a student of the Russian Academy of Music named after Gnesin, a composer. He will explain how ancient thinkers contemplated the purpose of music, and then how this idea was reinterpreted by monks in the Middle Ages: why sound is necessary for humans and why the concept of "beautiful" was understood so differently in various eras. The discussion will also cover the formation of classical harmony, stable and unstable intervals, polyphony, and the terms "mode" and "tonality". Guests of the lecture will hear music from different eras: from the period of "new art" and the Renaissance to the heights of Baroque in the works of Johann Sebastian Bach. Where to go in Moscow on weekends will be suggested by our website.