Western Music Timeline

Fall of the Roman Empire

With the fall of the greatest Empire of the time, much of mankind's brain power was focused on trying to maintain the level of technology that had been produced.

Music was passed from person to person through oral tradition and was for mainly entertainment purposes.

Fall of the Roman Empire

Medieval Era

500-1400

Gregorian Chant

Polyphony

Ars Nova

Medieval Era

Printing Press

Up until the invention of the printing press, music was hand written and decorated.

Once invented, printing became faster, easier and cheaper allowing music that was written down to be shared.

With more accessibility and knowledge, composers began to experiment and grow in theory, allowing music to expand and move toward the next era.

Printing Press

Music Theory

Hymns

Notation

Renaissance Era

1400-1600

Renaissance Era

Martin Luther and the 30 Years War

When Martin Luther nailed his 95 Thesis to the door of the Catholic Church, he created the catalyst that would launch the Protestant reformation and lead to the 30 Years War. With his focus on individual relationship with one's Savior, he influenced sacred music in a way that brought about Hymns.

The Protestant Reformation also gave courage to those who believed one should be able to worship freely and caused a rift against the Catholic Church that lead to the 30 Years War.

The war of religion lead to bigger and grander churches and therefore bigger and grander music to fill the spaces.

Martin Luther and the 30 Years War

Baroque Era

1600-1750

Music based on Big Emotion

Birth of the Orchestra

Juxtaposition

Baroque Era

Revolution and Enlightenment

With a movement toward "Reason" that attempts to over come "superstition" and tradition, there was an shift torward sepration of Church and State and scientific experimentation.

These elements, coupled with a pendulem swing reaction against Baroque emotion, lead to a studied and restrained music movement that highly focused on technique and skill

Time of Revelation and Enlightenment

Classical Era

1750-1830

Age of Reason - reason, individualism, and skepticism.

Art and Architecture - return to Roman and Greek subject matter and design

Music - Clarity, Balance and Restraint

Classical Era

Escaping the Real World

As America grew, and with it the American Dream and the Industrial Revolution, the desire to escape harsh, colorless reality became a driving force in Art and Music.

A return to emotion and the introduction of Impressionism leads to a colorful, imaginative and over the top movement in Music.

Escaping the Real World

Romantic Era

1820 - 1900

Atonality

Nationalism

Expressive Emotion

Romantic Era

American Rise and Fall

World War 1 brought a sobering climax to the Industrial era.

But during the Roaring 20's life was good, goods were prosperous and culture in America was becoming more and more diverse due to the slave trade at the end of the 19th century and heavy immigration at the beginning of the 20th. Innovations like the gramophone and record player advanced music and allowed the common man to enjoy music from the comfort of home.

However, The Great Depression that followed throws the US and the rest of the World into a time of focused survival.

All of this change and serious subject matter creates an abundance of music genres that eventually lead to what we now consider "Pop Music"

American Rise and Fall

Modern Era

1920 - Present

Dissonance

Experimentation

Minimalism

Modern Era

Surrealism

Atonality

Experimentation

No Rules

Surrealism

Slave Song and Blues

Irregular Rhythms

Call and Response

Dissonant Harmonies

Slave Song and the Blues

Jazz

Creativity

Interesting Harmonies

Syncopation

Jazz