What affected music history?

An Independent Study Article by Penelope Nicolas

In the words of Louis Armstrong, “Music is life itself.” And it is. Throughout history, music has played a gargantuan role in society, culture, religion, and everyday life. From Europe, to Asia, to the Americas and everything in between, music has been, since 60,000 years ago, a universal language. As seen in post-conquered Latin America, Europeans, who knew nothing of the native languages, could still feel the intense emotional tone of each song that reached their ears. This kindred link between two vastly different cultures is one of the things that the whole world has in common; music and emotion. In this view, music can be seen as the same everywhere. And yet, as one dives deeper into the history of music, it will come to one’s attention that despite the similarities of how music touches the soul no matter the language, music is vastly different around the world. One may wonder why this is the case. Human beings are one species; divided perhaps by political lines and vast oceans, but still one species. And yet the one language that humans all share is so vastly different on each continent and in each country. To find the reason behind this, one must look at three major factors that have affected the course of music history; religion, environment and geography, and historical events.

To begin, the environment and geography play an enormous role in the differences in music around the world. The course of music history relies heavily on where these events happened. Earth, constantly changing and so different wherever one goes, has always been the biggest factor in how humans evolved, settled, and built civilizations. Therefore, it has an impact on music as well. To start, one can turn to temperature. Katya Ignatova, pianist and violinist, pointed out that the instruments developed in Africa versus the instruments developed in Europe cater to whether or not they would be played inside or outside. Africa has a notoriously warm climate, meaning that its inhabitants spend much of their time outside. The instruments developed (drums being the most prominent) emit large, loud, and traveling sounds that can be heard across vast distances. The music also represented the beauty of nature in Africa. That cannot be said of most of the music that evolved in Europe. The music associated with Europe ‘salon music’ or other kinds of indoor music: strings, piano, and instruments that sound loud when one is inside, but in reality do not really travel that far, sound-wise. Resources in the environment also cause a difference in music. Bamboo is plentiful in Southeast Asia, resulting in instruments being made of bamboo. The availability of different metals around the world caused a variety of gongs and brass instruments to emerge differently and at different times. Geography plays into how isolated a civilization is, therefore either encouraging or holding off the influence of neighboring musical styles. The Andean mountain region of South America, for example, evolved differently music-wise because it was only exposed to a few different forms of music.

Following close behind, religion is arguably one of the biggest reasons for differences in music; most likely because music has always been an outlet for religious worship and ritual. From the earliest engravings on kettledrums in Southeast Asia depicting religious and heavenly beings, to hymns and spirituals in America, music and religion have often gone hand in hand. They have also been repelled by each other: the discovery of the tritone suggested to those who were religious the very existence of the devil within a single chord– one that caused so much auditory fear and discomfort that people thought it was truly the devil’s chord. This kinship between music and religion paves the path for differences in music for reasons clear to the eye. Hymns and choral pieces in Europe are vastly different from that of the indigenous music of Latin America: both, however, affected by religion. Religion has, in a roundabout way, affected mainstream pop today. Newly freed African slaves in the United States developed spirituals, and later on this same form of music (a heavy emphasis on the backbeat, for example) would make its way into almost every aspect of modern music. All starting with the recitation of events in the Bible in song. Ancient Greece and its rich mythological background had a god of music, Apollo. The word music comes from the Muses, who encouraged creative thinking and endeavors. Religion could also censor, suppress, or regulate music. The rise of Islam all throughout Asia and the Middle East resulted in previous cultural approaches to music being replaced by those of Islam. The Catholic church regulated how much musical freedom there was in choral music. It leaves one to wonder where music would be without the omnipresent effect of religion.

Hence the word ‘history’, historical events have greatly affected the evolution of music. Colonization may be the biggest one. The Spanish colonized Latin America and native music was changed forever. Through the blood and the gore and the unabashed conquering of new land, there was a heavy and irreversible influence on indigenous music by the Europeans and even an influence on European music by the natives of South America. Same with North America. Political and social events around the world made way for different types of music that reflected that. Music is an emotional outlet, and with history comes pain, rebellion, empowerment, joy, loss, fear, and anger. Oppressive governments in Africa led to secular songs and hymns to be adapted into protest songs. Psychedelic rock in the 60s reflected the anti-war movements, feminism, civil rights movements, and other liberal movements that began to find their voices at that time. Influenced by the civil rights movement, African American artists in Harlem came up with hip-hop. When the world went to war, the world wrote a song. When the war ended, the world wrote a song. When the world showed hatred, oppression, the darkest side of humanity, the world wrote a song. Every national anthem, in some way, shape or form, reflects their bloody, victorious, or gallant history.

As it is now evident, music history is a complex web that one can only begin to untangle. So many things have affected it, shaping it into the vast, colorful, diverse canvas that it is today. Who would have thought that the worshiping of a higher power, the placement of the highest mountains, and the shots fired in a war would set the stage for the next musical era?

Works Cited:

Béhague, G. B. (n.d.). Latin American music. Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved May 10, 2022, from https://www.britannica.com/art/Latin-American-music

Bohlman, P., V. (2017). The Cambridge History of World Music (The Cambridge History of Music) (Reprint ed.). Cambridge University Press.

Wikipedia contributors. (2022, February 24). Music history of the United States. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_history_of_the_United_States#:%7E:text=Some%20of%20the%20best%2Dknown,was%20mostly%20religious%20in%20purpose.

O. (2019, February 27). Middle Eastern Music Short History & Instruments. Rast Sound. https://rastsound.com/middle-eastern-music-short-history-instruments/#:%7E:text=Middle%20Eastern%20Music%20spans%20in,Pre%2DIslamic%20era.

Wikipedia contributors. (2022b, May 2). Music of ancient Greece. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_of_ancient_Greece

Wikipedia contributors. (2022b, March 14). Music of ancient Rome. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_of_ancient_Rome