Ok, it's sort of looking like I'm posting about every 2 weeks. This may improve, but I am not making any promises. Anyway, to continue my history of instrumental music:
Let’s face it, we really don’t know much about actual music from the ancient world. But by the time we get to the Renaissance, things change, and our knowledge increases.
The big reason, as I see it, for this increase in knowledge is the development of systems of notation. While some forms of notation did apparently exist in the ancient world, by and large we don’t know enough about them to recreate music (except for speculation). Knowledge of these ancient notation systems was lost, so that by the 7th century, at least one musical scholar opined that noting music was impossible. However, by the 9th century, methods to put plainchant from church services down on paper (or perhaps parchment). While at first this notation was more of a memory aid to assist someone already familiar with the music, over time it developed to where someone who knew the system could be reasonably expected to be able to sing a work he previously didn’t know. Eventually, the idea of musical notation extended from vocal, sacred music to included instrumental and secular music as well. By the 1600’s, notation enough like our modern system that many musicians today can read with as much ease as say reading a facsimile of a Shakespeare folio existed, and many examples of works of this period exist in both manuscript as well as printed form.
Concurrently several forms of tablature developed for instruments such as the lute. Tablature, for those unfamiliar with it, is a form of music which instead of representing the noted to be played, shows how to finger the instrument to produce the desired notes. This of course assumes knowledge of how a particular instrument was tuned.
This body of manuscript and printed works shows development of both vocal music (including instrumental only portions) and pure instrumental music. I see three reasons for instrumental music at this time:
1. Dance, both social as well as performance (i.e., ballet).
2. As a chance for a skilled musician to demonstrate his talent.
3. To allow someone without vocal skills to step to the front in a musical performance.
Dance music was developed into forms, while retaining elements of the dance from which they were derived, where not actually intended to be danced to; and these were then collected into suites. Various forms of music, like the toccata, fantasy, prelude, etc., being rather free in form, allowed both the composer as well as the performed (enough one and the same) to show his chops, as it were. And since at this time, it was considered an important of a well-developed life style (at least for the upper classes) to have some musical skills, someone who wished to be musical but lacked a good voice for singing would naturally turn to an instrument.
Classical music (in the broadest sense of the term) is very much instrumental. The symphony concert, the piano recital, the string quartet and other forms of chamber music are all almost purely instrumental. Yes, Beethoven did include choral music in the last movement of his 9th symphony, and occasionally other composers did similar; but name any classical composer and a large about of his works are instrumental.
In many ways, what happened during these periods sets the stage for what comes later. IN particular, I think the 3 reasons mentioned above, dance music, demonstration of skill, and giving a “voice” to those lacking vocal abilities, are important also in terms of instrumental music.
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
Saturday, June 2, 2007
A Brief History of Instrumental Music
I haven’t posted in a while, been out of town. I’ll try to be more regular.
I decided to start off with a history of instrumental music in general, in order to understand a bit better where it all has come from. After a first draft where I started to go from prehistoric times until the present day in one sitting. I decided instead to go by installments. First installment: ancient music.
No one knows how old instrumental music is, in fact no one knows how old music is or whether vocal or instrumental music came first. Partly it would depend on just exactly what you mean by music. Is a bird song music? I don't propose to get into that debate. Since even pre-human primates were presumably capable of some types of vocalization, and such vocalizations can have at least some of the characteristics of music, perhaps vocal music came first. However, even pre-human primates can pound one thing on another, and if done in any sort of rhythm, this could also be considered music. Rhythm, in the form of the heartbeat, breathing, the one-two of bipedal locomotion, etc., is a basic of at least higher life forms. Ad hoc percussion instruments can be anything from hands (clapping) to various rocks, bones, pieces of wood, etc., and would not leave any clear evidence of musical use in an archeological context.
Melodic instruments are another case. There is a a find of a of a juvenile cave bear femur fragment, pierced with at least 2 holes, which some believe is a Neanderthal Flute. Others feel it is simple a bone pierced by some carnivore bite. The oldest undisputed flute is a German find dated at 36,000 BP.
Horns, developed from animal horns, are another ancient form of instrument. String instruments probably developed from the bow. Archers would hear the note that a plucked bowstring would make, and it would not take a whole lot of experimenting to discover the effect that string length, tension, etc., would have on the note.
I would suspect that by the time man developed agriculture and was able to settle down in one place, some 10,000 years ago, man probably had a pretty well developed system of music of some type. Ancient civilizations, in Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece and Rome had well developed music, with variety of instruments, and perhaps some type of notation. Brief references to musical instrument playing may indicate some type of instrumental music, as opposed to instrumental accompaniment of vocal music, existed at this time.
Consider this: while percussion and string instruments would at least allow one to self-accompany singing, wind instruments do no allow this. So any player of a wind instrument who either wanted to take a front role in an ensemble, or perform solo would of necessity have to “go instrumental”. And any player who could sing would also be interested in performing instrumentally.
Also consider the role that instruments played in military contexts, for signaling, timekeeping and just general rousing the troops. This would have also been instrumental in nature.
So, while we know not much specific about ancient music (at least in terms of knowing the music itself), it is safe to assume that a certain amount of it was instrumental in nature.
I decided to start off with a history of instrumental music in general, in order to understand a bit better where it all has come from. After a first draft where I started to go from prehistoric times until the present day in one sitting. I decided instead to go by installments. First installment: ancient music.
No one knows how old instrumental music is, in fact no one knows how old music is or whether vocal or instrumental music came first. Partly it would depend on just exactly what you mean by music. Is a bird song music? I don't propose to get into that debate. Since even pre-human primates were presumably capable of some types of vocalization, and such vocalizations can have at least some of the characteristics of music, perhaps vocal music came first. However, even pre-human primates can pound one thing on another, and if done in any sort of rhythm, this could also be considered music. Rhythm, in the form of the heartbeat, breathing, the one-two of bipedal locomotion, etc., is a basic of at least higher life forms. Ad hoc percussion instruments can be anything from hands (clapping) to various rocks, bones, pieces of wood, etc., and would not leave any clear evidence of musical use in an archeological context.
Melodic instruments are another case. There is a a find of a of a juvenile cave bear femur fragment, pierced with at least 2 holes, which some believe is a Neanderthal Flute. Others feel it is simple a bone pierced by some carnivore bite. The oldest undisputed flute is a German find dated at 36,000 BP.
Horns, developed from animal horns, are another ancient form of instrument. String instruments probably developed from the bow. Archers would hear the note that a plucked bowstring would make, and it would not take a whole lot of experimenting to discover the effect that string length, tension, etc., would have on the note.
I would suspect that by the time man developed agriculture and was able to settle down in one place, some 10,000 years ago, man probably had a pretty well developed system of music of some type. Ancient civilizations, in Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece and Rome had well developed music, with variety of instruments, and perhaps some type of notation. Brief references to musical instrument playing may indicate some type of instrumental music, as opposed to instrumental accompaniment of vocal music, existed at this time.
Consider this: while percussion and string instruments would at least allow one to self-accompany singing, wind instruments do no allow this. So any player of a wind instrument who either wanted to take a front role in an ensemble, or perform solo would of necessity have to “go instrumental”. And any player who could sing would also be interested in performing instrumentally.
Also consider the role that instruments played in military contexts, for signaling, timekeeping and just general rousing the troops. This would have also been instrumental in nature.
So, while we know not much specific about ancient music (at least in terms of knowing the music itself), it is safe to assume that a certain amount of it was instrumental in nature.
Friday, June 1, 2007
New Blog
Hi!. I've been thinking of doing this for some time, but finallty took the plunge. What I intend to do is a blog discussing instrumental rock, primarily from what I consider the Golden Ages of R'n'R, the 50's and 60's. I am inspired by Alan Pollack's
site
A little bit about me. I'm retired and play the guitar, which is perhaps the main reason why I am doing this. As a guitarist who is definately not a singer (or even a vocalist), instrumental music allows me more room for expression
site
A little bit about me. I'm retired and play the guitar, which is perhaps the main reason why I am doing this. As a guitarist who is definately not a singer (or even a vocalist), instrumental music allows me more room for expression
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