The first studies of Western musical history date back to the middle of the 18th century.
G.B. Martini published a three volume history titled
Storia della musica (
History of Music) between 1757 and 1781.
Martin Gerbert published a two volume history of sacred music titled
De cantu de musica sacra in 1774. Gerbert followed this work with a three volume work
Scriptores ecclesiastici de musica sacra containing significant writings on sacred music from the 3rd century onwards in 1784.
20th and 21st-century music
The 20th century saw a revolution in music listening as the radio gained popularity worldwide and new media and technologies were developed to record, capture, reproduce and distribute music. Music performances became increasingly visual with the broadcast and recording of music videos and concerts.
[citation needed] Music of all kinds also became increasingly portable. Headphones allowed people sitting next to each other to listen to entirely different performances or share the same performance.
[citation needed]
20th-century music brought a new freedom and wide experimentation with new musical styles and forms that challenged the accepted rules of music of earlier periods.
[citation needed] The invention of musical
amplification and
electronic instruments, especially the synthesizer, in the mid-20th century revolutionized popular music and accelerated the development of new forms of music.
[citation needed]
Classical music outside Europe[edit]
Classical music is a broad, imprecise category, including music produced in, or rooted in the traditions of art, ecclesiastical and concert music. A music is classical if it includes some of the following features: a learned tradition, support from the church or government, or greater cultural capital. Classical music is also described as complex, lasting, transcendent, and abstract.
[citation needed] In many cultures a classical tradition coexisted with traditional or popular music, occasionally for thousands of years, and with different levels of mutual borrowing with the parallel tradition.
Sub-Saharan African music is by a strong rhythmic interest that exhibits common characteristics in all regions of this vast territory, so that Arthur Morris Jones (1889–1980) has described the many local approaches as constituting one main system. C. K. also affirms the profound homogeneity of approach. West African rhythmic techniques carried over the Atlantic were fundamental ingredients in various musical styles of the Americas:
samba,
forró,
maracatu and
coco in Brazil, Afro-Cuban music and Afro-American musical genres such as
blues,
jazz,
rhythm & blues,
funk,
soul,
reggae,
hip hop and
rock and roll were thereby of immense importance in 20th-century popular music.
[clarification needed]
Byzantium[edit]
Byzantine music (Greek: Βυζαντινή Μουσική) is the music of the Byzantine Empire composed to Greek texts as ceremonial, festival, or church music. Greek and foreign historians agree that the ecclesiastical tones and in general the whole system of Byzantine music is closely related to the ancient Greek system. It remains the oldest genre of extant music, of which the manner of performance and (with increasing accuracy from the 5th century onwards) the names of the composers, and sometimes the particulars of each musical work's circumstances, are known.
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Indian music is one of the oldest musical traditions in the world.
[16] The
Indus Valley civilization left sculptures which show dance
[17] and musical instruments (some no longer in use), like the seven holed flute. Various types of stringed instruments and drums have been recovered from
Harrappa and
Mohenjo Daro by excavations carried out by
Sir Mortimer Wheeler.
[18] The
Rigveda has elements of present Indian music, with a musical notation to denote the metre and the mode of chanting.
[19] Early Indian musical tradition also speaks of three accents and vocal music known as "Samagan" (Sama meaning melody and Gan meaning to sing).
[20] The classical music of India includes two major traditions: the southern
Carnatic music and the northern
Hindustani classical music. India's classical music tradition is millennia long and remains important to the lives of Indians today as a source of religious inspiration, cultural expression, and entertainment.
Indian classical music (marga) is monophonic, and based on a single melody line or
raga rhythmically organized through
talas. Carnatic music is largely devotional; the majority of the songs are addressed to the Hindu deities. There are a lot of songs emphasising love and other social issues. In contrast to Carnatic music, Hindustani music was not only influenced by ancient Hindu musical traditions, Vedic philosophy and native Indian sounds but also by the Persian performance practices of the Afghan Mughals. The origins of Indian classical music can be found from the oldest of scriptures, part of the
Hindu tradition, the
Vedas.
Samaveda, one of the four vedas describes music at length.
Chinese classical music is the traditional art or court music of China. It has a long history stretching for more than three thousand years. It has its own unique systems of musical notation, as well as musical tuning and pitch, musical instruments and styles or musical genres. Chinese music is pentatonic-diatonic, having a scale of twelve notes to an octave (5+7 = 12) as does European-influenced music.
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