By: Ashraf Naushahi

Music is the art of arranging human voices and instrumental sounds for producing melody and harmony. Both singing and playing musical instruments are parts of music.

Word “music” in different languages

As a word “music” came from a Greek word “mousike” which also means music. Not only in English, but in many other languages too, similar words are used for it. For instance, musica (Italian), muzik (German), musique (French),  muziko (Esperanto),  musik (Danish), muziek (Dutch), musiko (Filipino), musik (Indonesian), music (Latin), muzika (Bosnian), musiqi (Azerbaijani), muzyka (Russian), musiek (Afrikaans),  muzike (Albanian), musika (Basque), and in many other languages. Similarity of the words for music shows that music has been a part of various cultures since the centuries.   

Different genres of music

Like literature, there are several genres of music. For instance, country music is a genre of music. Some other genres of music are: classical, baroque, opera, jazz, folk, bhangra, rock and roll.

Opera, which is a genre of music in which singing and acting are combined, started in the 16^th century. When it started, drama and theatrical expressions were dominant then in the 17^th century singing became more significant, making opera more popular among its audience. Orchestra also became popular in the same period which continued till the 18^th century.           

Instruments used to produce music

Similar functions and techniques are often used in apparently different musical instruments for producing musical sounds, hence it is difficult to categorize these instruments precisely. For some convenience, however, musical instruments are mostly categorized in three types: drums or percussion instruments, wind instruments, and stringed instruments. Often, strike, wind and string techniques are used in the same instrument for producing musical sounds.  

It is not possible to estimate how many musical instruments are used in various types of music because almost anything that can be used for producing a sound can be used as a musical instrument. The most common musical instruments can be estimated in hundreds.   

In drums or percussion instruments (membranophones) sounds are produced by strike, such as: bass drum, timpani, triangle, tambourine, tombak, celesta, tamborim, tar, frame drum, daf, cabasa, bells, agogo, pandeiro, conga, doumbek, damaru, dhol, bodhran, cowbell, shekere, tabla, surdo, tan-tan, timbau, timbales, snare drum or side drum or field drum, cymbal, etc.

In wind instruments (aerophones) sounds are produced by blowing, such as: accordion, oboes, bagpipe, clarinet, tenor horn, bandoneon, flute etc.   

In stringed instruments (chordophones) sounds are produced by strings, such as: cello, fiddle, double bass, octobass, tololoche, viola, violin, acoustic bass guitar, contra, hudy-gurdy, lute, harps, piano, etc.   

The oldest musical instruments discovered at archeological sites have been mostly flutes. In Russia, almost 35,000 years old things were discovered which were made of animals’ bones. It was said that those were the oldest musical instruments discovered. Some significant discoveries were made at the Indus Valley Civilization archeological sites. However, the largest collections of musical instruments were found in parts of China, which were more than 9,000 years old. In ancient Egypt remains, different musical instruments such as harps, flutes and clarinets were discovered. 

From various discoveries made in several parts of the world, it has been well known that the history of music goes back to thousands of years. Music was composed for both individuals or gatherings and ceremonies since its start. In ancient theatre, it had become a part of theatre plays or dramas. In the Middle Ages, singers and musicians roved various towns and villages, singing and playing tunes on their musical instruments, with a hope to get some food to eat and a corner to stay for few hours.           

South Asian classical music is said to be one of the oldest genres of music. At the Indus Valley Civilization archeological sites different types of musical instruments such as drums, flutes and stringed instruments were discovered. Indonesian music was also as old as 5,000 years in the Bronze Age in Archeology. Similarly, music was a part of arts in ancient Greece and many other parts of the ancient world.

15^th to 19^th century music

In several parts of Europe music became more popular after the second half of the 15^th century when printer was invented. Earlier music sheets were written by hand but after becoming printing possible, music sheets were printed for musicians. In the 16^th century more and more music sheets were printed by using printing technology which became a big advantage for development and popularity of music. 

In the 17^th century, a genre of music which became popular in Europe was known as Baroque. It was a European classical style of music. As a word “baroque” came from different similar words in various languages. For instance, in French “baroque” meant “irregular pearl” and in Portuguese “borroco” meant “unpolished or rough pearl”. Several music composers became famous in this style of music during the 17^th and 18^th centuries. They improved different tunes and solo melodies by using the techniques of baroque music. Various musical instruments were used in baroque music, such as trumpet, horn, flute, violin, cello, guitar, harp, organ and piano.

A style of music followed the period of baroque music in the 18^th and 19^th centuries. It was a style in which proportion and disciplined balanced expressions were important. It contained mostly instrumental music. Concerts and orchestras increased in this period.

20^th century music   

In the 20^th century, electricity, electronics and some other related fields in sciences and technologies developed. Inventions of radio, phonograph and television made broadcasting and distance listening of songs and music possible. Both songs and instrumental music became more and more commonly accessible in all parts of the world with the development of sound broadcasting technologies. Neither music listeners nor singers and musicians needed to visit opera places anymore for music. People could listen and see singers singing on their radio and television sets.

Some singers or vocalists became very famous during different periods in the history of music and singing. Famous singers sung popular songs not only in their languages but also in different styles of music and singing. Sometimes these singers wrote their songs too.

There have been different debates on liking or disliking of music continued too. Some people liked music so much that they spent hours and hours in producing or listening it. They arranged some sort of music for all occasions and places. On the contrary, some people disliked music so much that they could not even listen it. People who comprehended music also comprehended that music itself is neither all good nor all bad, like several other things in this world. A moderated outlook about music is what is needed for comprehending and appreciating melodious music. Music cannot be appropriate on all occasions and places. For instance, when students are studying in a classroom, music can distract them. When someone starts singing or listening loud music in sleeping hours, it can disturb those sleeping. Sometimes people play loud music in their cars or public transport, which is wrong obviously. Music and song listening should be for relaxation and should not distract or disturb others in any event.

Acoustics

Acoustics is a branch of Physics, in which sound and vibration are studied scientifically.

Acoustically, a sound can be distinguished on the basis of its pitch, intensity, resonance and quality. In an auditorium or music hall music and sound can be heard without any distortion when its sound systems are set and work according to the principles and technology methods of Acoustics. During a concert, Acoustics’ methods are found very useful for listening sounds, music and songs clearly without any distortion in all parts of the music hall or auditorium.     

Pythagoras wished to know why some sounds were harmonic while others were not. He experimented with strings and discovered that tones produced by a string had different harmonic ratios which made its sounds more or less harmonic. He also discovered that it depended on the length of the string.

Aristotle comprehended sound as the outcome of wave motion and compressions. Therefore it can be said that studying sound had started thousands of years ago, however, sound studies were developed more scientifically after the 16^th and 17^th centuries. Galileo Galilei discovered that sound was a perception of human mind when vibrations of sound produced by an instrument reached the ear. Several scientists succeeded in discovering the speed of sound. Isaac Newton discovered the different velocities of sound waves in solids.

In the 18^th and 19^th centuries, Acoustics became an established branch of Physics. Scientists including Leonhard Euler, Joseph Lois Lagrange, Jean d’Alembert, Hermann von Helmholtz, John William Strutt Reyleigh, Georg Simon Ohm and Joseph Henry studied different aspects of sound and developed various devices as well as equations to comprehend sound mathematically. 

In the 20^th century, inventions of loudspeaker, microphone, radio, gramophone, television and several such other inventions made it possible to record and transmit sound. Developments in sciences, technologies, inventions and innovations made the production and transmission of sound more and more convenient. Development in sound technology obviously brought a lot of advantages for musicians, singers and music listeners because music is a harmonious sound produced by musical instruments and vocalists or singers.

 

By: Ashraf Naushahi