The flute was once made of wood rather than silver or other metal, and could be made as a side-blown or end-blown instrument. In one side, there would be several holes. They were either straight or somewhat curved, and construction became standardised on a curved version by approximately the middle 15th century. Cornetts in medieval times were quite short. The medieval cornett differed immensely from its modern counterpart, the trumpet, not least in traditionally being made of ivory or wood rather than metal. The instruments used to perform medieval music largely still exist, though in different forms. The use of multiple texts and the notation of instrumental accompaniment has developed by the end of the era. Rhythmic notation allows for complex interactions between multiple vocal lines in a repeatable fashion. Harmony, in consonant intervals of perfect fifths, unisons, octaves, (and later, perfect fourths) begins to be notated. The notation of polyphony develops, and the assumption is that formalised polyphonic practices first arose in this period.

The simplicity of chant, with unison voice and natural declamation, is most common. In earlier medieval notation, rhythm cannot be specified, although neumatic notations can give clear phrasing ideas, and somewhat later notations indicate rhythmic modes. At the start of the era, the notated music is presumed to be monophonic and homorhythmic with what appears to be a unison sung text and no notated instrumental support. These manuscript traditions do not reflect much of the popular music of the time. These institutions generally included the church and church institutions, such as monasteries, although some secular music was also preserved in these institutions. Since creating musical manuscripts was very expensive, due to the expense of parchment, and the huge amount of time necessary for a scribe to copy it all down, only very rich institutions were able to create manuscripts which survived to the current time. The only medieval music which can be studied is that which was written down and survived. Establishing the end of the medieval era and the beginning of the Renaissance is admittedly arbitrary 1400 is used here. This era begins with the fall of the Roman Empire (476 AD) and ends in approximately the middle of the fifteenth century.

The term medieval music encompasses European music written during the Middle Ages. A musician plays the vielle in a 14th century medieval manuscript.

Medieval instrumental music