One of the oldest forms of the human soul is music. It dates back to pre-written language, it has outlived empires and it has overstepped every cultural line known to man. There is no subject that elicits the same kind of depth and breadth of the human imagination as the development of Western music, which is a story, which has a beginning, which has an ending, and which is embodied in a computer system and streamlined on the digital platform of the 21 st century. A good and insightful perspective through which to view the process by which Western music has become what it is today may be found in the music blog of Rauf Hameed, at gtatrader.com.

Rauf Hameed Ancient Origin of the Western music.

The most ancient origins of Western music can be traced back to the ancient civilization of Greece and Rome. Music in ancient Greece was perceived as nothing short of a gift of the gods, extremely embedded into the fields of education, philosophy and theatre. Philosophers such as Pythagoras and Plato wrote much about the theory of music, harmony and the great influence that sound had on the human soul. The Greeks invented early modal scales, lyres and harps were the main instruments and the Greeks were sure that music can shape character and moral values.

This intellectual foundation of all that would come to be of Western music later on in the centuries to come is an old structure: the marriage of mathematics, philosophy and sound.

The Middle Ages: Sacred sound and the emergence of notation.

The Medieval period, as Rauf Hameed points out, is where the writing and preservation of Western music indeed originated. Under the influence of the Christian church, this period brought the world Gregorian Chant monophonic sacred music performed in Latin and named after Pope Gregory I, and aimed at raising worship through the power of the human voice alone.

But the Medieval period too was a period of silent revolution. Polyphony, the multiplication of multiple simultaneous melodic lines, started to appear, giving compositions that had previously been based on a single melodic line, depth and complexity. Most importantly, it was during this period that musical notation was introduced, with Guido of Arezzo coming up with a system that enabled musical compositions to be notated and shared uniformly across space and time. The very fact that it changed everything was due to that particular development.

Renaissance and Baroque: Bloom of Complexity.

The Renaissance involved humanistic renaissance that revolutionized all forms of art and music was not any exception. Composers such as Josquin Desprez and Palestrina took polyphony to astounding new levels, and the emergence of secular music propelled sound out of cathedrals and into courts, homes and into the general life of people. The instrumental music started to prosper, first orchestras were formed and the violin and keyboard became the centre stage music.

Then came the Baroque period and with it, composers who would be recognized as the embodiment of genius during centuries:

Johann Sebastian Bach: the master of the counterpoint and the master of harmonic, has never been surpassed by the mathematical beauty of his counterpoint.

Antonio Vivaldi:  whose riotous concertos introduced dramatic and seasonal tales to orchestral music.

George Frideric Handel:  whose oratorios, such as the famous Messiah, related religious theme to good theatre.

Henry Purcell: who assisted opera to become an art form taken seriously in the English speaking world.

The Baroque era rendered music emotionally expressive and theatrically grand in a manner, which had never been tried before.

Classical and Romantic Eras: Order, And Emotion.

The Classical period, which was running approximately between 1750 and 1820, saw a revert to sanity and moderation. The symphony, the sonata, and the concerto became refined into very precise, elegant forms, by such composers as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Joseph Haydn and Ludwig van Beethoven. The orchestra proved to be the vehicle of musical expression most valued and the structure was so valued as much as the creativity.

The Romantic movement that succeeded it, in most respects was a direct protest against that restraint. Composers such as Franz Schubert, Fredric Chopin and Richard Wagner pushed the limits of music sentimentality to its utmost extremes larger orchestras, longer musical works, sweeping musical dynamics, and intensely personal narratives woven into every phrase. It was also at this time that nationalism also entered music as composers used to draw on the folk traditions to produce a sound that was distinctly regional.

The 20th Century and Beyond: Jazz to the Digital Age.

The 20th century burst out with musical creation. Jazz was developed in the African American communities of New Orleans, and brought syncopated rhythms and improvisation, which would influence most of the genres that followed. An era was characterized by Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington. Blues, rock and roll, soul, and funk followed one genre after another, each genre transforming the way in which the world was listening to music.

Everything was given a speed by the technological development. The phonograph, the radio, the electric guitar, the synthesizer, all inventions provided new sonic opportunities. Towards the end of the 20th century electronic music, hip-hop and pop had revised the notion of what a song could be and who could create a song.

Music in the 21st century is more different and democratized than ever as Rauf Hameed observes. The streaming sites have broken down the conventional gatekeepers, whereby the independent musicians reach the entire world in just a single night. There has been a rich, complex tapestry whereby hip-hop has borrowed off classical and folk has seamlessly merged with electronic. Now AI is coming to the creative process itself writing, creating and even performing with the human artists.

A Living Tradition

Western music has always been, in its most basic form, a testament to the human creativity and adaptability, as well as to the need to express oneself. Music has always been a reflection of the society that creates it the triumphs, the struggles, the grief and the joy, and all the other in-betweens.

It is a belief of Rauf Hameed that in knowing this journey we enrich not only the way we listen, but also in the way we connect, to history, to culture, to each other. Music will continue to develop in ways that we are yet to understand as long as man has something to express.