The Evolution of Music

Since the dawn of civilisation, nay the dawn of life itself, music has been a form of communicating or entertainment. Music began as a form of communication between animals of the same species, or to ward off predators, or to attract mates, but once humans started to evolve, music evolved with them.

It soon became almost a language to the human race, the beating of sticks or rhythmic songs creating the most efficient form of communication before speech. But when humans did learn how to talk and form language, music did not die. In fact, it soon served a new purpose.

In 325AD Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire, and with that came the development of European music. This led to many different movements of music, often relating to the styles of paintings.

In 1430, the Renaissance began, which saw the simplistic values of Greek and Roman Classic styles, and after this in 1562, Pope Pius IV restored church music to pure vocal form. Of course, women were not allowed to sing on stage or in churches, so castration emerged as a way of preserving high-pitched male voices.

So at this point, it is clear that music had become absolutely defined as a form of entertainment, rather than communication, to the point where it was necessary for men to be pitch-perfect to please those of higher power.

The 1600s potentially saw the most important time for musical development, with the Baroque period. During this time, music became much more social, but was still mainly for the upper classes. It was also during this time that some of the most influential musicians of all time were born, including Bach, Handel and Vivaldi.

In 1756, Mozart was born, who is arguably the most important figure in musical history. In his very early years he composed Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, which is now taught as a simple rhyme to millions of children every day. In his life he composed over 600 musical pieces, and inspired other great composers like Beethoven, whose Symphony No. 5 is considered the most popular classical work ever written.

A hundred years later, the slave trade began, which introduced West African rhythms as well as work songs and chants to America. This is arguably when music became truly accessible to common people, with songs being used to create unison rather than to entertain. These chants and work songs strongly influenced Blues and Jazz, which were musics composed by the lower classes and played to the lower classes, and still have strong links today.

In 1877, Thomas Edison invented sound recording, and a year later he patented the phonograph. The evolution of music had now reached its peak, and soon the listening of music would become accessible to everyone, and not only something to be viewed live as an audience at a show.

It was quite a few years before recorded music actually became accessible though. Many of the famous works of this time, including Ragtime and Swan Lake were still only available to those who had the money and means to go and see it live. However, the phonograph was taking off and being sold, making recorded music accessible to those with the money to buy it i.e. the upper classes.

However, by 1942, it was clear that records had become available to many other people. The song Chattanooga Choo Choo became the first "gold record" and therefore the first record to have one million copies sold.

During the 60's, the Beatles and The Rolling Stones became immensely popular, proving that music had truly become absolutely accessible to all people of every creed. During this time, the Beatles released their album Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hears Club Band, taking full advantage of the 72 minute record released only a few years before.

A massive breakthrough came about when Sony introduced the Walkman in 1978, which was the first portable stereo. Music had once again evolved in its purpose, for now people could listen to their favourite bands while jogging or if a passenger in a car on a long journey. Music had now become something that you could constantly listen to, with radio being easily accessible, TV on the rise with MTV going live in 1981, and music videos becoming more popular.

CDs were then invented, but did not overtake vinyl records (which were still the dominant medium despite tapes being released) until 1988. It could hold the same number of songs as a vinyl, but could be copied many times without affecting the quality of the audio, making music much easier to spread. And of course, this made the illegal sharing of music much easier.

In 2001, Apple introduced the iPod, which completely revolutionised the music industry and the way music is sold. Music could be bought and downloaded from the internet as opposed to buying them in-store, and this was also much cheaper.

Due to all of this though, ironically enough the best way to listen to music still is to buy a ticket, and go and see a band live, and that is also how many of today's bands get their money, due to the rise of illegal music sharing.

It just comes to show, really, that with all of this technology around us, we still absolutely prefer the classic method of enjoying our music.

Reference: http://www.factmonster.com/ipka/A0151192.html

Pete out.