Everyone can have an opinion on the question of, Where does music come from? And everyone might be right. Music is a big subject. Here are some things we've learned so far..
Ancient, Early European & American Music
No one knows where or when music began, but it's easy to imagine how it all started.
As primitive people sat around their campfires, thousands of years ago, telling tales of their daily adventures, someone may have added extra tones and inflections to a story.
It probably began as early musical theatre, while others around the campfire might have chanted in rhythm, and pounded on a drum.
From people singing and dancing, we get theatrix, and in theater, we get music. What can we say? People were created to make music. It's in our DNA.
Still, we wonder. Singing and dancing and pounding out rhythms may have started it all, but when and where?
Musicologists Identify 5 Musical Periods
1. Prehistoric
2. Ancient Music
3. Early European - A Classical Renaissance
4. American Music - Spiritual, Jazz, Country, Rock & Urban Soul
5. World Music
We don't know much about prehistoric music, but instruments dating back more than 10,000 years have been found.
Archaeological findings in the Middle East, (also called Medea or Mesopotamia), Egypt, India, Persia, China, Greece and Rome have discovered early versions of several modern instruments, dating back 5,000 years, as well as some primitive instruments more than 10,000 years old.
Early Egyptian musical instruments date back to the Predynastic period, before the pyramids were built. Egyptians gave credit to Hathor, the goddess of motherhood, for the invention of music. Egyptian musical legends continue with a later god, Osiris, who used music as part of his effort to civilize the world.
Tomb paintings from Egypt's Old Kingdom (2575–2134 BC) show harps, flutes, and single and double pipes of the clarinet type. Percussion instruments, and lutes were added to orchestras by the Middle Kingdom, around 2000 BC, more than 4000 years ago.
As a genre, Egyptian folk music, including Sufi ceremonies, is close to ancient Egyptian music, having preserved many of its features, rhythms, and instruments. If you want to hear ancient Egyptian music, join a Sufi celebration.
In 1986, Anne Draffkorn Kilmer, from the University of California, published her decipherment of a cuneiform tablet from Sumeria, dated to about 2000 BC. She proposed that the tablets show fragmentary instructions for performing music. The music was composed in harmonies of thirds. It was also written using a diatonic scale.
The notation in that tablet was not as developed as the notation in a later cuneiform Hurrian tablets from Ugarit, dated to about 1250 BC (Kilmer 1965).
The interpretation of the notation system is still controversial. At least five rival interpretations have been published. It is clear that the notation indicates the names of strings on a lyre. Its tuning is described in the tablets. These tablets represent the earliest recorded melodies, though fragmentary, from anywhere in the world.
Archeologist Leonard Woolley discovered pieces of four harps in 1929, while excavating in the ruins of the ancient city of Ur, located in what was Ancient Mesopotamia, or Sumeria, now in southern Iraq. They have been dated to 2,750 BC. Depending on various definitions, they could be classed as lyres rather than harps.
Ancient Greece
In the Greek Symposium, around 500 BC, Greek musicians developed their own original system of musical notation, perhaps to focus more on vocals and harmonies, which was a principle part of the Greek Chorus and Greek Musical Theatre.
The epics of Homer were originally sung with instrumental accompaniment, but no notated instrumentation from Homer exists today. Still, many fragments of Greek music do exist, among them a choral song by Euripides for Orestes, and an instrumental intermezzo from Sophocles' Ajax.
Fragments of Greek music have been found that call for more than one note to be sounded at the same time. Greek sources occasionally refer to the technique of playing more than one note at the same time. It appears that ancient Greek music placed an emphasis on harmonics.
Double pipes and ancient bagpipes, as well as a review of ancient drawings on vases, and writings which describe musical techniques of the time, all indicate harmony existed in ancient Greek music.
Music of Ancient Rome
Music was everywhere in ancient Rome, and music was incorporated into many areas of Roman life, including religious ceremonies, military parades, public occasions, and popular entertainment in the Roman theater.
The music of ancient Rome borrowed heavily from the music of the cultures that were conquered by the empire, including music of Egypt, Greece and Persia. In effect, Rome was a cultural melting pot for music, perhaps a bit like New York City in the 20th century.
A Roman philosopher, Boethius published The Principles of Music, which described three types of music:
Musica mundana - music of the universe, cosmic music
Musica humana - music of human beings, popular music
Musica instrumentalis - instrumental masterpieces
Ancient Indian Music
Musical instruments, such as the seven-holed flute and various stringed instruments have been recovered from Indus valley civilization archaeological sites.
The Natyashastra is an ancient Indian treatise on the performing arts, encompassing music, theatre, and dance. It was written sometime between 200 BC and 200 AD.
While much of the discussion of music in the ancient Natyashastra focuses on musical instruments, it also defines aspects that are fundamental in Indian music today:
1. The Fundamental Note, ever-present and unchanging.
2. Establishment of the first, defining note (Shadja) of the scale.
3. The notion of musical modes, the origin of modern melodic structures known as ragas
The Samaveda Scriptures consists of a collection (samhita) of hymns and portions of hymns. Most of these hymns are taken from the Rigveda, and are to be sung, using specifically indicated melodies called Samagana, by Udgatar priests at sacrifices in which the juice of the soma plant, clarified and mixed with milk and other ingredients, is offered in libation to various deities. Apparently, music and partying have been a popular pastime for thousands of years.
Ancient Chinese Music
Legend has it that the qin, the most revered of all Chinese musical instruments, has a history of about 5,000 years.
The gin is mentioned in Chinese writings dating back nearly 3,000 years, and examples have been found in tombs from about 2,500 years ago.
The exact origins of the qin is still a very much continuing subject of debate over the past few decades. A qin has recently been found in an archaeological site near Beijing, which is believed to be around 1,000 years old.
Early European Music
Early Music includes Medieval Music, as well as Renaissance, Classical and Baroque styles.
According to the UK National Centre for Early Music, the term "early music" refers to repertory European music, written between 1200 and 1800 AD.
The revival of interest in Early European Music has given rise to a scholarly approach to the performance of its music. Through academic research of musical scores and other historical evidence, performers can be faithful to the performance style of the musical era in which a work was originally conceived.
If you want to hear what English music sounded like in the time of Shakespeare, you can probably find a medieval performance society somewhere nearby. Some places, like Florida, present Medieval Festivals, with live theatre and medieval songs.
Rich & Poor Music
Until the 1800s, there were two types of music, rich and poor, but poor music was largely invisible, and not recorded in history books.
Those who couldn't pay big time to attend classical concerts had a lower class form of entertainment at the pub or church, or in the village square. Gypsies roamed the earth, and sang songs about the world as they saw it.
Travelling troubadors and merry minstrels composed songs which conveyed the news of the day. Music has announced the news of the world throughout the ages.
Busking has been an honorable profession in the music business for thousands of years, but music history hadn't been invented yet, so we don't know how they sounded.
Early European Music for the upper classes, was more sophisticated, church music, and classical music, composed for the entertainment of kings and queens and royal courtiers.
Because Classical is traditionally upper class music, it has a reputation for being the best music around. In effect, Classical Music is the church of the higher standard, as far as composition is concerned.
Others might say, there's more to music than just music. The musical experience is about more than musical notes. Music is also a feeling, and you don't feel much from musical notes on a page.
For pop music lovers, it's all about the performance. Music is just a tool to get us there, wherever there is..
Early American Music
Around 1800, the world rediscovered democracy, with the American and French Revolutions.
And with political democracy came musical democracy, as upper and lower class music slowly came together, over the next two hundred years.
The biggest names in entertainment, in the 1800s and 1900s, were classical composers from Europe, and pop entertainers in America.
It was Bach and Mozart and Papa Haydn in Europa, while in America, the biggest stars were Stephen Foster, The Christy Minstrels, Vaudeville, and eventually Tin Pan Alley.
On the poorer side of town, Country and Folk music from England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales followed American settlers, as they moved from Virginia to the Appalachian Mountains, and on to the Grand Ole Opry, and Nashville's Country Music City, before settling up shop in Austin, Texas, LA and San Francisco.
Eventually Country Music spread around the whole country, and beyond, but the heart of country music can still be found in Nashville.
The Birth of the Blues
Further south, but not far from Nashville, a child was born in Florence, Alabama, and he became the Father of the Blues.
WC Handy says he learned about music by listening to birds singing together, when he was young. He dedicated himself to learning how to play and compose music, and he developed into one of America's first musical superstars.
Handy incorporated the world's first black music publishing company in 1919. Then he opened an office in the heart of Manhattan's upscale Times Square. WC Handy's music publishing company is still operating today, as the oldest, still active, music publishing company in America.
After Handy introduced America to the Blues, it took a few decades, but Mississippi Delta Blues flowed northward, along with New Orleans Jazz, into St. Louis, Kansas, Chicago and Detroit, transforming along the way, into Rhythm & Blues, Soul Music, Motown, Urban Rap & Hip Hop.
Hip Hop is currently the world's most popular, and best selling music genre so far, in the 21st century. We can trace the roots of hip hop all the way back to Memphis Blues and New Orleans Swing Jazz.
Swing Jazz
Jazz carved out its own path to glory in the 20th century, with a big band circuit, playing music from Atlanta and New York to San Francisco and LA, and everything in between.
Jazz also divided into black jazz and white jazz, with Louis Armstrong and Benny Goodman competing for the biggest audiences. Everyone won in this contest, as both black and white audiences went to every show they could afford.
Carried along with this musical momentum, starting around 1900, America created a pop music circuit like the world had never seen before.
From The Chautauqua Circuit to Cleveland's Hall of Fame
Before Hollywood, California, and big band jazz, there was Chautauqua. In the early 1900s, Chautauqua gave birth to the music pro tour circuit.
From 1900 until the second world war, the Chautauqua Cultural Community Circuit changed the face of professional music, by taking entertainment on the road, and producing shows everywhere in America.
Then, after WWII, Hollywood took over the job of entertaining America.
Radio, TV, film and social media now provide, for a fee, what the social currency of Chautauqua used to give America for free.
From musical troubadors and entertaining gypsies, to pop stars and mega superstars, music has come a long way, baby.
Music from Africa, Asia and Europe all jumped the pond and found a home in America. Folk music went country and western. Europe's royally classical symphony societies played well in cities like Atlanta and Manhattan, Chicago and San Franscisco.
Upper and lower class music came together in America, as spiritual music blended with Rhythm and Blues, and Country Swing evolved into today's Pop Music. Both black and white music came together as Rock and Roll. Disco and Dance music play on forever.
Today, music is both a form of entertainment and a source of employment. For the first time in the history of the world, musicians and music managers are being paid. Some of them are being paid very well, thank you very much.
Some musical superstars earn millions every year. Regional stars can earn millions over a lifetime. Plus there are musical masters and professional musicians who earn in the hundreds of thousands of dollars every year.
In addition to professional musicians, there are millions more amateur musicians, who don't earn an income from music, but who still love to sing, and play along.
Added to this talent pool are the managers and roadies and show producers and soundmen, and the singers. So many singers. The Bible says there are 144,000 Singing Saints.
The bottom line is, amateur or professional doesn't matter in music. Whether you're performing or listening, it's all about how much we love it. Music Lovers Unite. We're all part of the same family.
It's a musical world. Isn't there a song about that?
SO, Where does music come from?
God only knows, or perhaps, only God knows for sure.
Perhaps music comes from God. Some musicians claim that God manages the music business. Or at least, that's the way it feels sometimes.
And then, there's the whole question of feeling inspired. It's a question, because no musician knows how inspiration works. But we all know that it does work, God willing.
When a musician feels inspired, it's the best feeling in the world. We spend a lifetime searching for the magic, and sometimes, it happens.
Mozart felt the magic for a while, but then it ended. Mozart's slogan was, "May the party never end", and then he died.
It might be better to say, May the music never end. Music can live forever.
Please Note: Like all music, this page is still under construction.
