Music is all around us, it is a part of our culture and for some it is a way of life! We all know how music is and how it should sound, but most people don’t realize that if it weren’t for previous musical eras, music wouldn’t sound like how it does today. Music classes after 6th grade aren’t mandatory and if people aren’t going into that field they don’t take music classes, so they don’t have the information anymore. It could only benefit a person’s brain to know some simple things about music. Seems how music has evolved over the decades, it seems obvious to know music’s history to understand our own music. Fundamentals should be tied in as well to help understand what music really is. People should learn the basic history and fundamentals of music to understand music, which can be seen through the different time periods in history.
To understand music you need to look at the history of music through the centuries and how it evolved. Music has been around for ages, but there are seven major musical eras. They are the Middle Ages, Renaissance, Baroque, Classical, Romantic, 20th Century, and 1945-present. The Middle Ages are important to the history of music because of a couple composers, Leonin and Perotin, and Hildegard. They are very important because they laid out the foundation for music. Next is the Renaissance, it is important because music shifted from the middle ages by having different melodies and things like word painting were added. They had only male singers and had major composers like William Byrd. The Baroque Era is important because the harpsichord came into existence. This era was very different not only in music, but in most aspects, for example, it was more flamboyant then what was seen before. The most famous composer is Johann Sebastian Bach. Then there is the Classical Era, which has major composers like Mozart and Beethoven. This era moved away from the ornate Baroque style and moved to a more graceful sound and appearance. There was the Romantic Era that followed after and during this era there were more piano love songs. Some major composers would be the Schumann’s, Chopin, Puccini, and Wagner. Next is the 20th Century, which was the beginning of a new age. Variety became important and likable in all sorts of ways. Traditional ways of making music sound were in a sense thrown out the window. From 1945 through now is important and different now because Jazz came into the picture. This was a new type of music and people enjoyed it so much! Now, there are many other important things that happened during these eras, but the main point is that with each era as time moved on they put their own marks on the music industry. With all things...
