Questions tagged [history]
For questions about how music has developed and changed over time or for questions about concepts and ideas of a historic period of music. Do not use just because the subject of the question is a historic figure or piece.
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Did percussion instruments communicate spoken words in click languages?
There are a number of click languages in Africa where 'clicks' function as part of their language. It seems like it would be possible to communicate some words with percussion instruments (maybe a ...
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Why do notes have stems?
How is it that stems became a part of standard music notation?
I was genuinely unable to find an answer to this anywhere on the internet - I couldn't even find an instance of anyone asking the ...
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Historical origin of the raised sixth scale degree in minor
The way I understand the melodic minor scale — with its raised 6 and 7 ascending and lowered 6 and 7 descending — is that it's representative of how composers operated when composing in minor.
However,...
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Why was Violin Concerto No.1 in A minor (Bach) composed?
I'm doing an assignment on a baroque period composition, and I chose Violin Concerto No.1 in A minor by J.S. Bach. One of the things I need to do is explain why it was actually composed. I'm having a ...
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Why are band instruments built in flat keys?
Instruments in a military bands (and similar) are usually built in the keys of B-flat or E-flat.
(Whether these instruments are treated as transposing instruments or not is irrelevant. The key that ...
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When could humans first measure pitch accurately?
This article suggests that accurate measurement of pitch wasn't possible until around 1870. Another source suggested that is was possible around the time of J.S. Bach. Does anyone have more info on ...
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what is a "rhythmic gesture"?
Per Wikipedia, taken originally from Winold, 1975, chapter 3, among the general characteristics of music from the common practice period is "rhythmic gestures of a limited number of rhythmic ...
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Did any pianist in history ever sight-read one of Liszt's Transcendental Études?
Liszt was known to be able to sight-read any piece, even Chopin's Etudes Opus 10 and Grieg's Piano Concerto, both Piano and Orchestral Part.
Since Liszt also composed some Études himself, I was ...
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Who played the solos at the climax of Bill and Ted Face The Music? [closed]
I'm sure this information isn't hard to find if I searched for the right terms, but I have searched and come up with results for how they would have loved to have included Van Halen and about the ...
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First guitar with fretboard inlays?
When did guitars first get fretboard inlays? Or were they a common feature on pre-guitar stringed instruments before the the guitar was formalised to the shape we now know and love?
Was there a ...
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What makes a song a Christmas song? [closed]
Apart from lyrics, what features have been common to Christmas music in different traditions and eras of classical, folk and modern music?
Have there been specific melodic intervals, structure, ...
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Personal / historical background regarding Chopin's Nocturne in F minor, Op. 55, No. 1
Chopin completed his Nocturne in F minor in 1843. During the time he was creating the piece, what was happening in his compositional or personal life that might influence one's interpretation of the ...
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Why is the usual clef for guitar G clef?
Analyzing by two parameters, polyphony and range, music written for guitar should use two clefs, G and F. Usually, solo guitar has a polyphonic expression. Writing two melodies in a single stave could ...
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Was a 13-line (6 over 7) staff system ever in wide use?
On the Wikipedia article for Passacaglia, there is an excerpt of a piece by 17th-century composer Bernardo Storace. It has a 6-line staff with both G and C clefs above a 7 line staff with both C and ...
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What was the first published "cutaway/cut-out" score?
Sometimes scores are formatted so that silent measures are completely omitted—not just left empty, but left blank, including the staff. The oldest score in this style that I have seen is Lutosławski's ...
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