Introduction
Music. Probably what you're reading this about. Wikipedia defines it as "an art form whose medium is sound and silence". I believe this is the most accurate description of music. After all, music is extremely diverse, and at its extremes, music is pretty much just sound and silence. However, music also incorporates simple concepts such as harmony, melody, and rhythm. Usually, music is broken up into segments. Songs, compositions, albums, and the like are all ways of separating one piece of music from another.
Music goes back and forth a lot. A song from 2012 may end up sound like one from 1942. A song from 1167 may sound peculiarly like a song from 2015. The composer may not intend to be "remaking" someone else's work, but instead it is a strange coincidence. However, there are also some times when one person actually remakes another's work. This is usually called a "cover". The goal of this handy-dandy guide to the history of music is to stay away from jumping around as much as possible. As I move through this guide, I will also attempt to move through time, starting with the earliest music, and ending today.
I will also be operating under the assumption that anything that anyone calls music, is music, because I have no time to deliberate what is and isn't. Of course, some things will certainly be covered more thoroughly than others, but I will attempt to match the significance of a particular person, genre, or era to the amount of time spent covering it.
Now that the ground rules have been laid, I believe it's safe for me to begin my tale.
Table of Contents
Getting Started - Finding Point A and Zoomusicology
Prehistory - Instruments and the Paleolithic Flutes
Tribal Music - But Really Just Africa
Music of Ancient Greece - Pythagoras and Instruments