Music is the art of arranging sounds to create expressive content, a universal human activity with diverse forms and purposes.

Key idea: The word "music" has ancient Greek roots, and while Western cultures often use it broadly, its meaning and associated terms can differ significantly across the world.

The word "music" we use today in English came into use around the 1630s. It comes from older words like Middle English "musike" and Latin "musica." Ultimately, it traces back to Ancient Greek "mousiké technē," which means "art of the Muses." In ancient Greek stories, the Muses were nine goddesses who looked after the arts and sciences. Over time, one Muse, Polyhymnia, became especially linked with music.

In the Western world, we usually think of music as a broad term covering many different types, styles, and traditions. However, this idea is not universal. Some languages, like Indonesian and Shona, have recently adopted words like "musik" or "musakazo" to match this broad Western understanding, because their older words did not cover everything. Before Western contact, countries like Japan and China did not have a single word for music in this wide sense, even though they had rich musical cultures. For example, the Chinese word "yue" (music) shares a character with "le" (joy) and once referred to all arts before its meaning became more specific.

African music is very diverse, but many experts, like J. H. Kwabena Nketia, point out that it is often closely tied to dance and speech. Some African groups, like the Songye and Tiv people, have a strong idea of what music is, but no single word for it in their language. Other words often translated as "music" have more specific meanings in their own cultures. For instance, the Hindi word "sangita" usually refers to classical art music, while many Indigenous languages in the Americas have words for music that specifically mean "song" but are also used for instrumental music.

“The modern English word music came into use in the 1630s. It descends from Middle English musike, which in turn descends from Old French musique, then Latin mūsica—and ultimately from Ancient Greek mousiké technē (μουσική τέχνη), a phrase meaning "art of the Muses".”

Key idea: The origins of music are debated, with theories linking its development to language, social functions, and even mating rituals, supported by ancient archaeological discoveries.

It is hard to know exactly how music began, and there are many ideas about it. Many scholars see a link between the start of music and the start of language. They argue about whether music came before, after, or at the same time as language. Another debate is whether music developed because it helped us survive (natural selection) or if it was just a side effect of other evolutionary changes.

Charles Darwin, in 1871, suggested that music might have started as a way to attract mates, like mating calls. While his original idea has been questioned, many modern scholars are still exploring this theory. Other ideas suggest music began to help organize work, communicate over long distances, connect with spiritual beliefs, build community, or even scare away dangerous animals.

We can only guess about prehistoric music based on old archaeological finds. The Divje Babe flute, a bone with holes, is at least 40,000 years old. However, people still debate if it was truly a musical instrument or just shaped by animals. The oldest objects widely accepted as musical instruments are bone flutes found in Germany, dating back about 43,000 to 39,000 years. These were made from bird wing bones and mammoth ivory by early modern humans.

Key idea: Ancient civilizations like Egypt and Greece had rich musical traditions, with early instruments and the development of musical notation and theory.

Ancient Egyptian musical instruments, like harps and flutes, are seen in evidence from very early times. As their civilization grew, they added percussion instruments, lyres, and lutes to their music. Cymbals were often used with music and dance, just as they are in Egypt today. Some Egyptian folk music and Sufi rituals are thought to be the closest modern music to ancient Egyptian styles, keeping many of their old sounds and instruments.

The "Hurrian Hymn to Nikkal," written on clay tablets around 1400 BCE in ancient Syria, is the oldest piece of music we have that was written down with musical notation.

In ancient Greece, music was a very important part of life and education. Children learned music from age six, as it was believed to be vital for developing a person's soul. Musicians and singers were important in Greek theater. The Seikilos epitaph is the oldest complete musical song with notation that still exists. Greek music theory, including their musical modes, later influenced Western classical music.

“The "Hurrian Hymn to Nikkal", found on clay tablets in the ancient Syrian city of Ugarit, is the oldest surviving notated work of music, dating back to approximately 1400 BCE.”

Key idea: Asian music traditions are incredibly diverse and ancient, with unique instruments, theories, and cultural significance across different regions.

Asian music includes many different cultures, from Arabia to East Asia and Southeast Asia. These traditions, some very old, are connected by trade, religion, and ideas, but each keeps its own unique sounds and performance styles.

Indian classical music is one of the oldest in the world. Ancient sculptures show dance and instruments like the seven-holed flute. The Rigveda, an old Hindu text, even has musical notation. Indian classical music often has a single melody line (a raga) organized by rhythms (talas).

Indonesian music, dating back to the Bronze Age, uses many percussion instruments, especially drums (kendang) and gongs. They have unique instruments like the sasando (a stringed instrument) and the angklung (bamboo instruments). The most famous Indonesian music is gamelan, which is an orchestra of tuned percussion instruments like metallophones, gongs, and flutes.

Chinese classical music has a history of about 3,000 years. It has its own ways of writing music, tuning, instruments, and styles. Chinese music uses a five note scale (pentatonic) but also has a twelve note system similar to Western music.

Key idea: Western classical music developed through distinct historical periods, each with unique characteristics, from the simple chants of the Medieval era to the emotional complexity of the Romantic period.

Western classical music has evolved through several distinct periods. The Medieval era (500 to 1400) began with simple, single melody chants in Catholic Church services. The Church started using musical notation to ensure the same religious music was sung everywhere. This period also had lively non religious songs.

The Renaissance (1400 to 1600) saw more focus on themes like courtly love. The invention of the printing press around 1450 made sheet music cheaper and easier to spread, helping musical styles travel faster. Church choirs grew, and music became more complex with many melody lines woven together (polyphony).

The Baroque era (1600 to 1750) brought the first operas and even more complex music. Composers like Johann Sebastian Bach and Antonio Vivaldi created major musical forms like the fugue and concerto. Music was rich and highly decorated.

The Classical period (1730 to 1820) aimed for balance and clear expression, inspired by ancient Greece and Rome. Music became lighter and simpler, often with a clear melody and supporting chords (homophony). The fortepiano, an early piano, became popular. Public concerts grew, allowing composers like Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Ludwig van Beethoven to gain fame beyond royal courts.

Romantic music (1820 to 1900) emphasized strong emotions and individualism. Composers like Richard Wagner and Johannes Brahms created passionate, dramatic pieces, often telling stories or evoking landscapes. They expanded musical forms and explored new sounds, leading to larger orchestras and more complex harmonies. Beethoven is often seen as a bridge between the Classical and Romantic eras.

Key idea: The 20th and 21st centuries saw a revolution in music, driven by new technologies like radio, recording, and computers, leading to the rise of popular genres like jazz and rock and making music more accessible.

In the 20th and 21st centuries, new technologies completely changed how music was created and shared. Before, people learned new songs from sheet music they played at home. But with radio and records, sound recordings became the main way to hear new music. This meant more people, including those with less money, could enjoy music from different places.

Art music in the 20th century explored new rhythms and sounds, often influenced by events like World War I. Composers like Igor Stravinsky experimented with darker, harsher sounds. The invention of sound recording also led to new types of music, like electronic compositions.

Popular music genres like jazz and rock grew significantly. Jazz, an American art form, emerged from African and European traditions, known for its improvisation and unique rhythms. Rock music, developing from rock and roll and blues, often features electric guitars and a strong beat.

Technology continued to advance, with multitrack recording allowing bands to layer many instruments and vocals. In the 1980s, digital synthesizers and drum machines became common. Today, computer software allows anyone to create and record music at home, leading to genres like electronic dance music. DJs also became part of bands, creating music by mixing recorded sounds.

Key idea: Music is created through composition (writing it down), improvisation (making it up on the spot), and performance (bringing it to life), with varying degrees of structure and collaboration.

Creating music can happen in a few main ways: composition, improvisation, and performance.

Composition is the act of making a song or musical piece. In Western classical music, this often means writing down the music using notation, like a score, for others to play. In popular music, it is called songwriting and might involve creating a basic outline of the melody, words, and chords.

Sometimes, a composer writes the music, but someone else arranges it for different instruments. In some cases, composers do not write anything down; they just create the music in their minds and then play or record it. Even when music is precisely written, performers still make many choices about how to play it, a process called "interpretation."

Music can have one composer or many. For example, a band might write a song together, or in musical theater, one person writes the melodies, another the lyrics, and a third arranges the music. Some music, like the blues, is created and performed without ever being written down. There is also music that uses randomness or chance, called aleatoric music, like the sound of wind chimes.

“A piece of music can also be composed with words, images, or computer programs that explain or notate how the singer or musician should create musical sounds.”

Key idea: Performance is the act of bringing music to life, which can range from highly structured and rehearsed interpretations of written scores to spontaneous improvisation.

Performance is when music is actually played or sung. In classical music, a composer writes a piece, and then musicians perform it. Even with written music, performers can change how it sounds, for example, by adjusting the speed or phrasing. In popular music, performers often have more freedom to change a song, even when playing a cover version.

Performances can be carefully planned and rehearsed, which is common in classical music and many popular styles. Or, they can be improvised, meaning the musicians make up parts as they go, which is typical in jazz and blues. Conductors lead orchestras and choirs during rehearsals, while bandleaders guide rock or jazz bands.

Rehearsals involve repeating a song until everyone can play or sing it correctly and together. Many cultures have strong traditions of solo performances, like in Indian classical music. Other cultures, like in Bali, focus on group performances. Music can be performed in small groups (chamber music) or large orchestras, in public concerts, or private settings.

Key idea: Improvisation is the spontaneous creation of music, a core element in genres like jazz and Indian classical music, and was historically important in Western classical music.

Improvisation is when musicians create music spontaneously, often based on a set of chords or a musical idea. They use notes from the chords, different scales, and extra decorative notes to make their music up on the spot. Improvisation can be done with or without much preparation.

It is a huge part of some music styles, like blues, jazz, and jazz fusion, where musicians often improvise solos and accompaniment. In Western classical music, improvisation was important in the Baroque and Classical eras. Performers would improvise decorations or solo sections called cadenzas.

However, in the 20th and 21st centuries, as classical music became more focused on playing exactly what was written, improvisation became less common in that field. But in other types of music, like Indian classical music, improvisation remains a central and essential part of every performance.

Key idea: Music serves diverse purposes, from personal enjoyment and religious ceremonies to commercial entertainment, and is created and consumed by both amateurs and professionals through various formats.

Music is made and performed for many reasons. It can be for pure enjoyment, for religious events, or as a product to sell. In the past, people bought sheet music to play their favorite songs at home. With records, people started buying recordings instead of sheet music.

Later, with tape recorders and digital music players, people could make their own playlists and take their music with them. Some people create "mix tapes" as a personal expression or a gift to friends.

Amateur musicians play for fun, while professional musicians earn a living from music. Professionals work in orchestras, bands, churches, or as freelancers. Often, amateur and professional musicians interact, with amateurs taking lessons from professionals or playing together in community groups.

Music can be performed live for an audience or recorded in a studio for wider distribution. Sometimes, live performances are also recorded. Live concert recordings are popular, especially in genres like rock, where unofficial recordings of live shows are highly valued by fans.

Key idea: Musical notation is the written language of music, using symbols to represent pitches, rhythms, and performance instructions, varying in detail across different musical styles.

Musical notation is the way music is written down, using symbols on paper to show notes and rhythms. It also often includes instructions on how to perform the music, like whether it should be a "slow blues" or a "fast swing."

To understand notation, you need to know about music theory, harmony, and the specific style of music. Written notation has changed over time and varies by musical style. Today, it is often created as sheet music or on computer screens.

In genres that involve improvisation, like jazz, the written music might only show the chords and the song's structure, requiring the performer to understand the style well. In Western classical music, scores show all the parts for an ensemble, and individual parts are given to each musician.

For popular music, jazz, and blues, a lead sheet is common, showing the melody, chords, and lyrics. Guitarists and bass players sometimes use tablature (tab), which shows where to place fingers on the instrument's fretboard. This was also used for instruments like the lute in the Baroque era.

Key idea: Many musical traditions rely on oral and aural transmission, where music is passed down by memory and learned by ear, rather than being written down.

Many types of music, especially traditional blues and folk music, were not written down. Instead, they were passed on by memory, from one musician to another, or learned "by ear." When we do not know who composed a song, it is often called "traditional" or a "folk song."

Different musical traditions have different rules about how much you can change the original music. Some are very strict, while others encourage improvisation or changes. In many cultures, history and stories are also passed down through songs, learned by listening and remembering.

Key idea: Music is made up of various fundamental elements like pitch, rhythm, and harmony, though the exact list and definition of these elements can vary.

Music has many basic parts, or elements. These can include pitch, beat, tempo, rhythm, melody, harmony, texture, and timbre. Different music education systems (like in Australia, the UK, and the USA) agree on some elements, but not all.

For example, all three agree on pitch, dynamics (loudness), timbre (sound quality), and texture (how layers of sound combine). But they might list other elements differently, like duration, form, or style. The UK even changed its list to "inter related dimensions of music" to include appropriate musical notations.

It is important to distinguish between "rudimentary elements" (the basic building blocks) and "perceptual elements" (how we hear and experience them).

Key idea: Pitch refers to how high or low a sound is, and a melody is a sequence of these pitches forming a recognizable tune.

Pitch is how high or low a sound is. We can hear a high piccolo note as higher in pitch than a deep bass drum thump. Pitch can also be very precise, like the notes in a melody or a chord. We can only really tell the exact pitch of sounds that are clear and steady, like a piano note, not a crash cymbal.

A melody, also called a tune, is a series of pitches played one after another, often moving up and down. Melodies usually use notes from scales or chords. Simple folk songs might only use notes from one scale. But complex jazz or modern music might use many different notes, including those outside the main scale.

Key idea: Harmony is about how different pitches sound when played together, forming chords and establishing the musical 'key' of a piece.

Harmony refers to sounds that are played or sung together at the same time, creating chords. Usually, this means notes sounding simultaneously. However, harmony can also be suggested by a melody where notes are played one after another but outline a chord.

In most Western music, the "key" of a piece tells you the main "home note" (tonic) and whether the scale is major (often sounding happy) or minor (often sounding sad). Simple songs stay in one key. More complex pieces, especially in Romantic classical music or jazz, might change keys many times.

Key idea: Rhythm is the organization of sounds and silences in time, often structured into regular patterns called meters, which define the feel of a piece.

Rhythm is how sounds and silences are arranged over time. Meter organizes time into regular groups called measures or bars. In Western music, these often group notes in sets of two, three, or four. For example, a waltz is in three (3/4 time), and many pop songs are in four (4/4 time).

Meters are easier to hear because the first beat of each group is usually emphasized. However, in pop and rock, there is often a "backbeat" where beats two and four are emphasized, usually by the snare drum. The rhythm section in pop and rock music, including guitars, bass, and drums, provides the rhythmic foundation.

Key idea: Musical texture describes the overall sound of a piece, determined by how melodic, rhythmic, and harmonic elements are combined, ranging from a single melody to multiple interwoven parts.

Musical texture describes the overall sound of a piece of music. It is determined by how melodies, rhythms, and harmonies are combined. Texture is often described by how "thick" or "dense" the music sounds, and how many different layers or "voices" it has.

There are common types of texture:

Monophony: A single melody without any accompaniment. Imagine someone singing a lullaby alone.

Heterophony: Two or more performers playing the same melody, but each making slight variations or adding small decorations. Think of two folk fiddlers playing the same tune, each with their own flair.

Polyphony: Multiple independent melody lines weaving together at the same time. Renaissance choral music often used this. A "round" like "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" is a simple example, where different groups start the same melody at different times.

Homophony: A clear main melody supported by chords. Most Western popular music from the 19th century onwards uses this texture. If a piece has many interwoven melody lines and instruments, it is considered to have a "thicker" or "denser" texture.

Key idea: Timbre is the unique sound quality of an instrument or voice, allowing us to distinguish between different sounds even at the same pitch and volume.

Timbre, also called "color" or "tone color," is what makes one instrument or voice sound different from another, even if they play the same note at the same loudness. For example, a middle C note sounds very different when played on a piano, a flute, or a guitar.

Even two players on the same instrument might sound different due to their technique, the type of mouthpiece they use, or the materials of their strings. The physical qualities of sound, like its overtones (extra, fainter notes that sound with the main note), determine timbre. For electric instruments, performers can change the tone using equalizer controls or electronic effects like distortion pedals.

Key idea: Expression in music involves manipulating elements like dynamics, tempo, and articulation to convey emotion and character without changing the core notes or rhythms.

Expression in music refers to the elements that create changes in the music without altering the main notes or rhythms. Performers add expression through things like phrasing (how musical ideas are shaped), vibrato (a slight wavering in pitch), dynamics (how loud or soft the music is), and tempo changes (speeding up or slowing down).

They can also change how notes are played (articulation), making them more accented, smooth (legato), or short (staccato). Expression manipulates all musical elements to convey a mood or character. It is about how the music feels and communicates emotion.

Key idea: Form is the overall structure or blueprint of a musical piece, outlining how its different sections are organized and relate to each other.

Form in music describes the overall structure or plan of a song or piece. It shows how the composition is divided into different sections. For example, many early 20th century songs used an AABA form, where the first melody (A) repeats, then a different melody (B) appears, and then the first melody (A) returns.

Since the 1960s, many pop and rock songs use a verse chorus form, alternating between verses (with new lyrics) and choruses (with repeating lyrics). Music expert Percy Scholes said that musical form is about finding a balance between repeating things too much and changing things too much. Common Western forms include the fugue, sonata, and theme and variations. If a piece does not have clear sections, it is called "through composed."