History of music theory: The beginnings of Music theory can be observed in extremely ancient instruments, artifacts, and later, depictions of performance in artworks.
History of music theory | Understanding Western Music Theory
As early as the Paleolithic, it appears people considered elements of Music in some way. For instance, a bone flute with carefully placed finger holes found in Hohle Fels in Germany and dated c.35,000 BCE, maybe a prehistoric example of the manufacture of an instrument to produce a preconceived set of pitches. For further discussion of Upper Paleolithic flutes, see d’Errico, et al. 2003, 39– 48.
Similar bone flutes (gǔdí, ) from Neolithic Jiahu, China dated c. 7,000 BCE reveal their makers progressively added more holes to expand their scales, and structured pitch intervals closer to each other to adjust tuning, and could play increasingly expressive and varied Music.
“Tonal analysis of the flutes revealed that the seven holes in some of the flutes correspond to a tone scale remarkably similar to Western eight-pitch scales.” These instruments indicate their makers became familiar with acoustics and developed theories of Music comparable to those of later times. Audio recordings of two of these flutes by Brookhaven National Laboratory are available here.
In North America, similar flutes from the Anasazi In-Indian culture was found in Arizona and dated c. 600– 750 CE, but again, suggests an older tradition. These instruments typically have six finger holes ranging from one and a half octaves. As with all these ancient flutes, it is likely an error to imagine the Anasazi flutes were limited to only as many tones as they have holes. Changes in embouchure, overblowing, and cross-fingering are common techniques on modern flutes like these that produce a much larger range of notes within an octave and in octaves above the fundamental octave.
The earliest known examples of written Mu’sic theory are inscribed on clay tablets found in Iraq and Syria, some of which contain lists of intervals and other details from which “…Mu’sicologists have been able to produce credible reconstructions of the Mesopotamian tonal and tuning systems.” Tablets from Ugarit contain what are known as the Hurrian songs or Hurrian Hymns dated c. 1,400 BCE. An interpretation of the only substantially complete Hurrian Hymn, h.6, may be heard here.
The system of phonetic notation in Sumer and Babylonia is based on a Mu’sic terminology that gives individual names to nine Mu’sical strings or “notes”, and to fourteen basic terms describing intervals of the fourth and fifth that were used in tuning string instruments (according to seven heptatonic diatonic scales), and terms for thirds and sixths that appear to have been used to fine-tune (or temper in some way) the seven notes generated for each scale.
Over time, many cultures began to record their theories of Mu’sic in writing by describing practices and theory that was previously developed and passed along through oral tradition. In cultures where no written examples exist, oral traditions indicate a long history of theoretical consideration, often with unique concepts of use, performance, tuning, and intervals, and other fundamental elements of Mu’sic.
The Vedas, the sacred texts of India (c. 1,000–500 BCE) contain theoretical discussion of Mu’sic in the Sama Veda and Yajur- Veda, however, these texts are widely considered to be based on far older oral traditions. The Natya Shastra, written between 200 BCE to 200 CE and attributed to Bharata Muni, discusses classes of melodic structure, intervals, consonance and dissonance, performance, and other theoretical aspects such as “shruti,” defined as the least perceivable difference between two pitches.
The Mu’sic of pre-Columbian Mesoamerica is known through the many instruments discovered. Thirty-two condor-bone flutes and thirty-seven cornet-like instruments made of deer and llama bones have been recovered from a site at Caral, Peru dating to c. 2,100 BCE. Flute No. 15 produces five distinct fundamental tones. A Mayan marimba-like instrument (c. 350 CE), made from five turtle shells of decreasing sizes suspended on a wooden frame, has been discovered in Belize. Later artwork depicts ensemble and solo performances.
Taken together, this evidence does not in itself demonstrate anything about Mu’sic theory in Mesoamerica from at least 2,000 BCE, though “…it is widely accepted that finds and depictions of ancient Mu’sical instruments are not only markers of Mu’sical traditions in space and time. … The information obtained from the archaeological record can be deepened considerably when ancient scripts, historical treaties, and other written sources concerning Mu’sic are related. Such documents offer notes on performance practices and their sociocultural contexts. For some cultures, hints concerning ancient Mu’sic theory and Mu’sical aesthetics may also be found.”
Mu’sic theory in ancient Africa can also be seen in instruments. The Mbira, a wood or bamboo-tined instrument similar to a Kalimba, appeared on the west coast of Africa about 3,000 years ago, and metal-tined lamellophones appeared in the Zambezi River valley around 1,300 years ago. In the 20th century, these instruments produce several tones, ranging to 32 separate pitches, and demonstrate a great variety of tunings— tunings “so dissimilar as to offer no apparent common foundation”, something that might have been expected at least by 1932.
The djembe, a common type of drum, likely originated from earlier, extremely ancient drums. Djembe ensembles create complex polyrhythmic patterns, but produce a variety of pitches depending on size and playing technique, usually producing at least three separate tones. African Mu’sic theory is also preserved in oral and cultural traditions that are one example of the great variety of concepts of fundamental aspects of Mu’sic around the world.
In China, a variety of wind, string, and percussion instruments, and written descriptions and drawings of them from the Shang Dynasty (c.16th to 11th century BCE), show sophisticated form and design. During the Zhou Dynasty (c. 1046–256 BC), a formal system of court and ceremonial Mu’sic later termed “value” was established. As early as the 7th century BCE, a system of pitch generation was described based on a ratio of 2:3 and a pentatonic scale was derived from the cycle of fifths, the beginnings of which may be seen in the 7,000-year-old Jiahu bone flutes.
In the tomb of the Marquis Yi of Zeng (5th century BCE), among many other instruments, a set of bronze chime bells were found that sound five complete seven-note octaves in the key of C Major and include twelve semitones. The Analects of Confucius are believed to have been written c. 475 to 221 BC, discuss the aesthetics of what Confucius considered to be the most benevolent form and use of Mu’sic, in contrast to popular Mu’sic of his time—an example of early Mu’sic criticism and consideration of aesthetics.
Around the time of Confucius, the ancient Greeks, notably Pythagoras (c. 530 BCE), Aristotle (c. 350 BCE), Aristoxenus (c. 335 BCE), and later Ptolemy (c. 120 CE), speculated and experimented with ideas that became the basis of music theory in Middle Eastern and Western cultures during the Middle Ages as can be seen, for example, in the writing of Boethius in 5th century Rome and Yunus al-Katibin 7th cen- try Medina. Middle Eastern and Western theory diverged in different directions from ancient Greek theory and created what are now two distinctly different bodies of theory and styles of music.
As Western musical influence spread throughout the world in the 1800s, Western theory became adopted as an international standard, but many other theoretical traditions in both textual and oral traditions continue to be used to create the distinctive music of the world’s cultures. For example, the long and rich musical traditions unique to ancient and current cultures of Africa are primarily oral, but inherently contain consideration of specific forms, genres, performance practices, as well as tuning, and other aspects of music theory.
Among the major contributors to the field are the ancient Greeks Archytas, Aristotle, Aristoxenus, Eratosthenes, Plato, Pythagoras, and later Ptolemy; in the Middle Ages of Europe, Boethius, Franco of Cologne,
Guido of Arezzo, Hucbald of Saint-Amand, Jacob of Liège, Jean de Muris; later in Europe, Zarlino, Rameau, Werckmeister, Fux; more recently, Riemann, Schenker, Boulanger, and Schoenberg (see List of music theorists); in India, Bharata Muni, Vishnu Narayan Bhatkhande, Purandara Dasa, Sharngadeva; in the Middle East, Ibn Misjah, Ibrahim al-Mawsili, and his son Ishaq, Yunus talkative, Ibn Sina (known in Europe as Avicenna); in China, Confucius, Yong Menzhoue, and Cao Rou.
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