Learn About The History of Music

Music accompanies worship, dance and song in all cultures but the notion of creating music brought nearly for its own beauty has been a preoccupation of the Western world. The story of Western music begins in the churches of the middle ages where composers began writing new melodies on top of the old religious chants. This new musical fabric called “Poliphili” astonished listeners with its changing tonal coverage. In the renaissance, polophili blossomed into an elaborate system of melodies overlapping and echoing each other in slowing rhythms. A system of counter point controlled the way melodies fit together so that the harmony was always clear. Also at this time, instrumental ensembles began to appear but first imitating the vocal music. By the baroque era, instrumental music became a force of it's own. String and keyboard instruments were especially popular. Composers like JS Bach brought music with the faster pulse under rapid chord changes. A new system tonality organized chords into modern harmony. In the classical age, Haytton, Mozart, and Beethoven used tonality to composed extended sonatas and symphonies. Orchestras grew in size to perform this new grand music. In exploring new harmonies, composers in the romantic era used music to express stories, ideas, emotions, even national sentiments. The tonal systems spread international dialects. Germany— Russian— And French— By the end of the 19th century, the color of sound became an end in itself as tonality extended to its farthest limits. The tonal system violently collapsed in the early 20th century. Composers like Stravinsky rejected the old styles and unleashed new primary rhythms and dissonant harmonies. At the same time, popular music erupted as a powerful creative force. Jazz gripped America with its African rhythms and Western harmonies. Rock music burst on the scene in the middle of the century combining Jazz elements with folk music and new electronic instruments. Its unprecedented popularity has reached every corner of the world. At century’s end, classical and popular styles are under going an astonishing cross fertilization. New hybrids promised to carry Western music forward in its continuing evolution.