Music Banter - View Single Post

TechnicLePanther · 08-11-2015, 10:30 AM

Prehistory

The prehistory of music is absolutely the longest period. The definition of prehistory is the time before written records. For music, this is simply the time before musical notation. The prehistory of music saw many facets of music root into the ground. These include genre, instruments, rhythm, melody, harmony, repetition, and pretty much any other part of music you can think of. All of these concepts were born without the scrutiny of the modern world.

So what was music like before historical records? The origin of music in human culture is kind of fuzzy. It could have began with motherese, or the strange communication between a mother and her infant. This seems the most likely theory, but there are certainly other valid ones. Music might have originally been made to attract a mate, or to communicate ideas to others, but this seems overly complicated in both cases. In any case, music would have to sound a certain way, so what did early music sound like?

Instruments

If you consider the human body an instrument, it's very likely that it was the first one. Clapping your hands, beating your chest, and vocalizing could all be considered examples of early music. If you don't consider the human body an instrument, then what is? I still haven't really put a definition on "instrument". Let's call it this: Any tools used for the purpose of making music.

So, pretty much anything could be an instrument, but only things used to make music actually are instruments. Using that definition, percussion most likely came first. Banging things together doesn't really require a whole lot of careful shaping. The first instruments constructed for the purpose of music making are hard to discern.
Many archaeological digs have uncovered objects that could possibly be instruments, but perhaps not. For instance, the bullroarer is an instrument that is certainly real. It used made by a attaching a cord to a shaped chunk of wood, and then swinging the wood around by holding the cord in your hand, usually above the head of the performer. The sound is modified by speeding up or slowing down the rotation speed, or lengthening and shortening the cord. Another example are the phalangeal whistles. These are made from human phalanges, or finger bones, which are cut so that when blown into, they produce a whistle-like sound. However, none of these enjoyed the popularity of one instrument pre-historically.

The Paleolithic Flutes

Most of these were found by digging around in Europe. They operate the same basic way a normal flute does, except today are probably more akin to recorders. Most of the ones we see today were made from bones, however it's likely that wooden ones were made as well. Pretty small category, but I wanted to make them their own section anyways. As the first instrument, they hold a particular importance in the history of music.

Oh boy, this post is already pretty long. Alright, how about this. I want to talk a bit about the genres of prehistory, and about particular cultures as well, so perhaps I'll save all of that for next time. Hope to see you there!

08-11-2015, 10:30 AM	#7 (permalink)
TechnicLePanther and the livin' is easy... Join Date: Jun 2015 Location: New York Posts: 1,997	Prehistory The prehistory of music is absolutely the longest period. The definition of prehistory is the time before written records. For music, this is simply the time before musical notation. The prehistory of music saw many facets of music root into the ground. These include genre, instruments, rhythm, melody, harmony, repetition, and pretty much any other part of music you can think of. All of these concepts were born without the scrutiny of the modern world. So what was music like before historical records? The origin of music in human culture is kind of fuzzy. It could have began with motherese, or the strange communication between a mother and her infant. This seems the most likely theory, but there are certainly other valid ones. Music might have originally been made to attract a mate, or to communicate ideas to others, but this seems overly complicated in both cases. In any case, music would have to sound a certain way, so what did early music sound like? Instruments If you consider the human body an instrument, it's very likely that it was the first one. Clapping your hands, beating your chest, and vocalizing could all be considered examples of early music. If you don't consider the human body an instrument, then what is? I still haven't really put a definition on "instrument". Let's call it this: Any tools used for the purpose of making music. So, pretty much anything could be an instrument, but only things used to make music actually are instruments. Using that definition, percussion most likely came first. Banging things together doesn't really require a whole lot of careful shaping. The first instruments constructed for the purpose of music making are hard to discern. Many archaeological digs have uncovered objects that could possibly be instruments, but perhaps not. For instance, the bullroarer is an instrument that is certainly real. It used made by a attaching a cord to a shaped chunk of wood, and then swinging the wood around by holding the cord in your hand, usually above the head of the performer. The sound is modified by speeding up or slowing down the rotation speed, or lengthening and shortening the cord. Another example are the phalangeal whistles. These are made from human phalanges, or finger bones, which are cut so that when blown into, they produce a whistle-like sound. However, none of these enjoyed the popularity of one instrument pre-historically. The Paleolithic Flutes Most of these were found by digging around in Europe. They operate the same basic way a normal flute does, except today are probably more akin to recorders. Most of the ones we see today were made from bones, however it's likely that wooden ones were made as well. Pretty small category, but I wanted to make them their own section anyways. As the first instrument, they hold a particular importance in the history of music. Oh boy, this post is already pretty long. Alright, how about this. I want to talk a bit about the genres of prehistory, and about particular cultures as well, so perhaps I'll save all of that for next time. Hope to see you there! __________________ Many have tried to destroy it... but... true evil never dies. It is only... REBORN *SUGGEST ME AN ALBUM* - I'm probably not going to listen to it but I will if you bother me enough. Last edited by TechnicLePanther; 08-15-2015 at 06:24 AM.