Music History: History And History Of Music

Decent Essays
History of Music

History of music goes way back, and because of all the notated history we have of music it has greatly influenced our history today. As more history is being made with music, it is good not to forget what has been said about or written on the topic of music. There are three distinct ages in music history, which include ancient music, classical music, and modern or contemporary music. The periods of music history consist of ancient, classical, and contemporary music in our culture today. Ancient music begins around B.C. 3,000, which is around the age of the oldest document of music recorded. This form of music was written using Pythagoras’ form of writing; which is in thirds. These ancient melodies were written for mostly
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This ear is my personal favorite as well as one of the most accomplished times in music history. There are three music eras in the classical, they are technically separate but most people tend to categorize them together. There is the Baroque, Classical, and the Romantic era. The Baroque era was where instrumental music began to take on popularity, using instruments such as the harpsichord. "When printed instrumental music did begin to appear, early in the sixteenth century, it represented a certain amount of achievement which must have been a fairly advanced stage in a tradition of long standing." (1935, 187) stated Finney. Some of the famous musicians who played in this era were J.S. Bach, and Antonio Vivaldi. This era very much defined the style and form used by the other two eras. After the Baroque, came the Classical era, this era brought about the popularity of the piano as the main instrument of the time. Along with bringing the piano into the lime light, there were a few form changes in this era as well. Leading this era in creativity and musical talent was Ludwig Van Beethoven. Then came the Romantic era mostly bringing about form …show more content…
This era is set from the end of the romantic era to now. At the beginning of this era there were many popular pieces that took on a lot of the attributes of the Classical. Some of those pieces favoring the classical era were written by a French musician, Claude Debussy. Finney states “Although Dubussy stands out as the composer who first popularized twentieth-century modernism, his Impressionism was but one facet of an experimentation that was going on everywhere.” (1935, 562) emphasizing the impact he made on our modern music. After these classical artists started to fade out the radio came on the scene changing things drastically. As the radio began to gain more and more popularity the music started to change. People began testing with electronic sounds the more computerized our society becomes, changing the pitch and sound of artist, and creating music strictly from computers. This new era of music does not mean that the older styles of music are fading out but rather means that music is just becoming more diverse as mankind keeps making new

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