

Historically, religions have often been catalysts for music. Such interaction led to the Tang dynasty's music being heavily influenced by Central Asian traditions, while the Tang dynasty's music, the Japanese gagaku and Korean court music each influenced each other. The eventual emergence of the Silk Road and increasing contact between cultures led to the transmission and exchange of musical ideas, practices, and instruments. In ancient song forms, the texts were closely aligned with music, and though the oldest extant musical notation survives from this period, many texts survive without their accompanying music, such as the Rigveda and the Shijing Classic of Poetry. It is difficult to make many generalizations about ancient music as a whole, but from what is known it was often characterized by monophony and improvisation. Upon the development of writing, the music of literate civilizations- ancient music-was present in the major Chinese, Egyptian, Greek, Indian, Persian, Mesopotamian, and Middle Eastern societies. However, such evidence indicates that music existed to some extent in prehistoric societies such as the Xia dynasty and the Indus Valley civilisation.

There is little known about prehistoric music, with traces mainly limited to some simple flutes and percussion instruments. 40,000 BP of the Upper Paleolithic by evidence of bone flutes, though it remains unclear whether or not the actual origins lie in the earlier Middle Paleolithic period (300,000 to 50,000 BP). The music of prehistoric cultures is first firmly dated to c. Most cultures have their own mythical origins concerning the invention of music, generally rooted in their respective mythological, religious or philosophical beliefs. Many theories have been proposed by scholars from a wide range of disciplines, though none have achieved wide approval. The origins of music remain highly contentious commentators often relate it to the origin of language, with much disagreement surrounding whether music arose before, after or simultaneously with language. Joseph Haydn playing in a string quartet, in a painting from before 1790Īlthough definitions of music vary wildly throughout the world, every known culture partakes in it, and music is thus considered a cultural universal.A man playing the didgeridoo, an indigenous instrument of Australia.A man playing the gendèr outside of the Embassy of Indonesia, Canberra.Performers in the Samba de Roda festival, a music and dance celebration in the Bahia region of Brazil.Mountain Chief recording on a phonograph for Frances Densmore, 1916.Sculptures on the Jagdish Temple, Udaipur of musicians, one of which plays an instrument similar to the Rudra veena.The Seikilos column with the Seikilos epitaph, dated to the 2nd-Century CE or later.The transition between Baroque and Classical music was called Rococo. Orchestras started becoming more and more popular with the addition of instruments such as clarinets, flutes, oboes, and bassoons. The Classical music time only lasted for seventy years, but they made a lasting influence on the music that people listened to. Orchestras started as accompaniments to operas, but eventually became a thing all on its own. Orfeo, an opera composed by Claudio Monteverdi, is considered the first great opera. Opera and orchestras were also created during this time. This era showed a more rich and flowing style of music compared to earlier times. The word "Baroque" is a Portuguese word meaning "A pearl of irregular shape." This referred mostly to art, and it has only recently been associated with music as well.

The Baroque era was also an interesting time of music. Church services were also being accompanied by musicians, or small groups of singers. Royalty would have had a hired minstrel called a troubadour, to serenade guest at feasts and special events.ĭuring the Renaissance, people started to discover more instruments and with the invention of the printing press, music was now available to anyone who could afford it. People called wandering minstrels, would wander about a market, and people would pay them to sing songs about them. This was a thousand year long period, where people started thinking of music as entertainment, not just a bunch of loud, annoying songs. The longest period of music and music making was during the Medieval times. Martini published three books called "The History of Music." Actual music making, however, started way before then. Did you know that the study of the history of music is called historical musicology? I mean, wouldn't it be cool if you could tell your friends, "Yeah, I'm a musicologist?" The study of the history of music dates back to the mid- 18th century, when an author named G.B.
