"Music exalts even the most gruesome situations into an ideal atmosphere."
(Richard Wagner)
Little is known about Germanic music, Roman historians wrote that the Germans made primitive music and that their singing sounded like the growls of animals, though this was probably exaggerated since the Romans were not used to Germanic languages with their hard throat sounds and "rolling R's".
Before I continue I would like to say that I'm not speaking about Wagner or Viking metal here, this page is purely about authentical music.
One of the few surviving melodies of Germanic music is the Anglo-Saxon song "Tyribus" (Tyr have us), which dates from the 7th century, a short version of this song is used in Scotland as a warcry;
Tyribus ye Tyr ye Odin, Tyr haabus ye Tyr ye Odin.
Another type of warcry is mentioned by Tacitus; the Barditus, this was not really a song but more something like a battlesong or warcry that was made by using the shield ("bort") in front of the mouth to increase the volume.
A part of a Crimean Gothic song text has also been written down:
Wara wara ingdolou
scu te gira galtzou
hĉmisclep dorbiza ea
Other remnants of Germanic music can be found in 12th century folk songs and some early Christian songs in which Christian texts were applied to older heathen songs.
Some traces of ancient Germanic music still survive today in drinking songs, English pub songs, children's songs, Norwegian cattle calls, jodelling, etc.
Some forms of Germanic music mainly consisted of solo singing accompanied by a lyre or a harp, but other styles were also used like singing together or just purely instrumental.
The musical instruments they used were the Germanic harp and the whistle, which could only play six notes, other instruments they used were the drum, lyre, horn, fiddle, organ, piper, plectrum, rattle stick, tambourine, trumpet and backpipe.
Considering they had so much instruments available to them, Germanic music must have been very rich and cheerful.
I think it is save to assume that Germanic music must have had many similarities with Celtic music since they both used the same instruments.
To give you an impression of what Germanic music may have sounded like you can listen to this piece of music that was made with instruments that were also used in that time, just click here.
In the Middle Ages there were minstrels and bards travelling from town to town to make jokes, sing, and play music, they also told the villagers what happened in the other places they had visited; they were like Medieval newspapers; this was probably a remnant of the Germanic "skalds" who travelled the lands to entertain people, make music, sing, bring over news messages, read poems, etc. the skald also told stories; this is probably one of the reasons why Germanic mythology survived until this day, in the 12th century Snorri Sturluson wrote his Skáldskaparmál to preserve the heathen mythology and to allow skalds to use the correct versions of the stories.
There are some modern artists whose music has much in common with the old Germanic music, a good example is the Swedish group Garmarna, who make Swedish folkmusic with old instruments.
One of the few surviving melodies of Germanic music is the Anglo-Saxon song "Tyribus" (Tyr have us), which dates from the 7th century, a short version of this song is used in Scotland as a warcry;