History of Music in Timeline

Music is a cultural universal involving the arrangement of sound with form, harmony, melody, and rhythm. Despite varying definitions, it's recognized as a medium for expressing human creativity. Music creation includes composition, improvisation, and performance, utilizing diverse instruments, including the human voice. It can be produced mechanically or electronically, highlighting its versatility.

1900: End of Romantic Music Era

Around 1900, the Romantic music era ended. This era, which began around 1820, was characterized by its emphasis on emotion and individualism, moving beyond the rigid structures of the Classical period to more passionate and expressive compositions.

1900: Harmony in Classical Music

By 1900, most classical music written used major-minor tonality keys and simple classical pieces were written so that all the music was in a single key.

1929: AFM Protests Canned Music

In 1929, the American Federation of Musicians (AFM) protested the replacement of live musicians with mechanical playing devices. An ad in the Pittsburgh Press featured "Canned Music / Big Noise Brand".

1941: Herzog asks "Do animals have music?"

In 1941, George Herzog asked, "do animals have music?" starting exploration into the question.

1972: Ruwet's paradigmatic segmentation analysis

In 1972, Nicolas Ruwet's "Language, musique, poésie" was published which describes a paradigmatic segmentation analysis technique.

1983: Mâche's study of "ornitho-musicology"

In 1983, François-Bernard Mâche's "Musique, mythe, nature, ou les Dauphins d'Arion", a study of "ornitho-musicology", showed that bird songs are organised according to a repetition-transformation principle.

1990: Nattiez States Definition of Music

In 1990, Jean-Jacques Nattiez argued that it is a human being who decides what is and is not musical, even when the sound is not of human origin.

November 2006: Music Therapy for Schizophrenia

In November 2006, Michael J. Crawford and his colleagues found that music therapy helped schizophrenic patients.

2010: Musicology Scholarship Divisions

Around 2010, musicology scholarship was divided into music theory, music history, and ethnomusicology.

2012: Women in Vienna Philharmonic

In 2012, women made up just 6% of the top-ranked Vienna Philharmonic orchestra.

2013: UK Curriculum Update

In 2013, the UK curriculum was updated with the term "appropriate musical notations" added to the list of elements, and the title changed from "elements of music" to "inter-related dimensions of music".

2015: Gender Disparity in Orchestras

In 2015, an article highlighted the gender disparity in major Canadian orchestras, noting that 84% of the soloists with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra were men.