Replying to History Of Music

Ok, I've got some RCM music history stuff to share. It's about Beethoven.

Beethoven is a classical composer born in the year 1770. He was born in Bonn, Germany. His father anticipated him to be a child prodigy just like Mozart. However, his father is also an alcholic and "boxes" Beethoven's ears, which may have caused deafness in the later years.

At the age of 11, Beethoven has successfully composed his first composition. With his first teacher Neefe, Beethoven succeed in his musical career. Beethoven, due to his unhappy childhood, has begun to be more easiliy angered. He would be enraged for little reasons, for instance if his publisher has made an error in the publishing. Beethoven was once a pupil of Haydn, but due to Beethoven being fed up for writing "Pupil of Haydn" on every composition, and his stormy relationships with Haydn, Beethoven soon stopped learning from Haydn. Beethoven traveled to Vienna to perform, and like Mozart, he patroned for a prince. However, Beethoven demanded respect and equalness between him and his Patron, unlike the reast of the classical composers, who respected their patrons like masters. Beethoven, mozart, and Haydn formed the Viennese School together.

Beethoven's musical style was significant. Beetoven wrote one opera in his life, called the Fidelio. Unfortunately, his opera, which took 10 years to compose, was critized immediately when it premiered. Beethoven's hard work was not respected, and Beethoven got even more angry.

Beethoven's music was split into three main sections/parts. First, it's the "early" part, where some people called "imitation". Some representative works include "pathetique". The second part was called the "middle" part. The middle part started when Beethoven composed Opus 31. Some represented works include "Spring", "Emperor" and Synphony Number 5 in C- Opus 67. The last part, was what some people called it the "late" or "mature" part, was where Beethoven started to enter the Romantic period. "Symphony Number 9" was finally created. There were only 2 compositions in the last part.

Beethoven favored the popular sonata-allegro form, and his cyclial structures. In "sympony Number 5" the famous "short-short-short-long" motive arised. In the third movement of this symphony is the "scherzo and trio" form. Beetoven also had styles such as the rondo style. Also, Beethoven's music is full of Dark and somber compositions. For Syphony number 5, "Thus fate knows on the door" was the motive, hence his dark thoughts.

And the end of Beethoven's life, Beethoven's grave was visited by over 10000 people in 1827 and even Schubert visited it. Beethoven was one of a few composers who was respected by everyone, and influenced the music society greatly.

Copyright 2004 Johnny Lee. Confirmation Number 85034 (Verification of the real author of the exam is the author that wrote this.)

Thank you

~Dooga

Let's start with how music was first created during the stone age where people used objects that they can grab hold to produce a sound?

Any better idea where to start?
I like music and wish to learn more about it.
I believe the root to all knownledge is understanding how it began.

Thanks Guy!

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Okay, so music in the most basic form is hitting and shaking. Think primitively for a moment. You can hit a tree with a rock and make a sound. You can hit a felled tree with a rock tied to a stick to get a louder, longer sound. You can hit a dried and hollowed tree with two sticks and have the foundation of drumming. Notice a rattlesnake or locust sound? Put some pebbles in a dried gourd and you have something that rattles when you shake it. Later, blow air into a dried reed or large shell. With these examples, it becomes fairly clear that elements of music most likely developed out of the simple desire to make a sound. When this first occured would be up for debate, but could have coincided with the first forms of human language. Whether it was curiosity, intelligent creation or dumb luck, music was happening as a result of people learning to repeat sounds of any type.

Rhythm is created by repeating the hitting or shaking. If you have two things being hit or shaken, you have a band. That simple coordinated effort is rudimentary orchestration. This practice would logically follow very soon after general noise making. Passing on the method and creation of these orchestrations is what we would call teaching music.

The puposes of the earliest music were most likely varying. Humans have long been inspired to mimic sounds found in nature, like birdsongs, running herds and chirping crickets. Coordinated noise-making probably was probably just fun and a way for people to mimic each other. This would theortically help build communication ability and evolve into a method of storytelling.

The types, complexities and quality of music that would be developed over time would certainly parallel the evolution tool-making technology. For every advancement in the ability to sharpen, cut, bend, shape, carry, move, etc. any object, that opens up the possibilities to get more interesting sounds when you hit or shake something. As we know from written history, the more complex societies became, the more rituals and traditions they practiced. It is only natural for music to have become a part of many of these cultural practices.

What I've covered so far brings us up to a time that ranges from 100,000 to one million years ago. By the time we get to the Toba super volcano eruption of 75,000 years ago, language and tools probably started getting pretty good and with it the noise-making. The radical changes in weather and temperature conditions that led to the last Ice Age caused a clustering of populations. Formerly nomadic peoples would end up closer together for longer periods of time. This probably had a very profound effect on the development of music being used for storytelling and even entertainment.

That's all for the moment. For your own research, grab any history book and start thinking about what kind of traditions any society practiced and you will soon get to their need for music.

Let's start with how music was first created during the stone age where people used objects that they can grab hold to produce a sound?

Any better idea where to start?
I like music and wish to learn more about it.
I believe the root to all knownledge is understanding how it began.

Thanks Guy!

To really go back in time, you can start with cultures of four different regions.

Asian - Instruments of different sorts have been found for thousands of years in from Afghanistan, India, China and southeast Asia. Monks have been throat singing in Tuva for so long there may be a written record of it as one of the earliest forms of orchestrated music.

African continent - People often think of African percussion first, but the banjo most likely got its start there before spreading across Asia with some saying it is 1200-1500 years old, or more. Also, Egyptian cultures, which pre-date many others, have historical references to musical instruments being used 3000+ years ago. These examples only scratch the surface in Africa.

Nordic/Anglo - I don't know too much about their musical history, but emerging theories and archaeological evidence shows an advanced Northern European culture having mapped the North American coastline before the glaciers formed. Such a people with advanced travel and mapping technology, would probably have developed music for ritual or entertainment.

Native American - Most examples of early instruments would probably have their origins in Central and South America. Mayan, Aztec and Incan cultures would surely have developed music for a variety of reasons. This would have later spread northward.

These are just starting points. To get detail, you would have to break it down by the history of instruments, rituals/traditions, types of music, etc.

I would be glad to provide as much detail as possible. Feel free to ask!

Can you widen the subject or specify a little more what you are looking for?

Are you looking for old instruments or how they wrote it down passed it ahead by learning from others?

History on development from string to electric guitars etc?

I'm not a musician or have any idea how to play an instrument or even read notes. But it would be helpful to know what you are looking for?

History of Mozart and other composers or is it... (fill in the blanks)

Nils

Obviously this would take forever, since time lasts forever, and music is universal, but I would start with medieval (otherwise it would take way too long), and with the wooden instruments that they used, basic forms of what we now call Piano, Violin, Clarinet etc. but carved from wood. They played tunes in plain keys (dorian mode etc.) and songs like Greensleves came from this period.

Then as technology developed, the baroque period, with Bach, Handel, Scarlatti etc. and the use of Harpsichord primarily, and more modern instruments like Oboe, Trumpet, Recorder, and thus the more complicated melodies and inventions.

Classical began the Piano and the biggest bulk of music comes from here led by Beethoven, Mozard, Hayden, Schubert, from whole-scale symphonies to concertos and sonatas.

Romantic was the development of the complex tones and tonalities of music, as well as technology in using the pedal in Piano music and greater use of the acoustics of this instrument. Tchaikovski, Mendelsson, Chopin used instrument acoustics brilliantly.

Modern came about as people got bored of classical tones, and things like tone-row and modern styles, dischords, use of new technology, electronic technology etc.

Anyway I hope that has been a little useful, but could you be more specific of the exact critera, as such a topic is very vague and could be of reference to anything.

Can anyone help to contribute some histories of how music was created?