An Old History Book

by Vocal

Musical Origins

Everypony's been touched by music at some point in their life. Lullabies are sun to foals. Making up songs help any ponies remember things. And, Of course, there is the occasional pony, and sometime an entire town, who spontaneously bursts into song. However, How much thought have you put into the music you hear? Probably not too much, unless you're writing a song. The thing is, Music wasn't always around.

Scholars are unsure about the origins of music. However, they do agree that it began without words or instruments. One widespread theory is that somepony with a mind for patterns noticed the walking gait of somepony else. Music, therefore, began with dance. The sound of hooves stamping the ground provided the first precussion music.
Tap dancing, in all it's forms, is one of the oldest forms of dance and, without any music to back it up, is still very musical on it's own, making it the most likely candidate.

The next form of music is unclear. Some claim that drum music came next, while others say that string instruments came first. No matter the case, the truth is that only String Instruments really took off over the next few centuries. These instruments, however, are not the instruments we are familiar with. Often times, the instruments that were made could be called any number of names by today's standards. At times, an instrument may be played like a fiddle, at others a banjo. The size was the only thing that changed the instrument's purpose. However, later on, we begun to see distinctions between string instruments. Harps, Lyres, Lutes, the old strings. The Classic strings are many years off. They were not made untill after the Piano.

The Piano, coincidentally, was created during the height of the string age. It was something new, something never tred before. It was exciting to the musical community. Many ponies thought it's distinctive sound was beautiful. So, the piano was the next instrument that the musical world revolved around. New instruments were made to compliment the piano. String instruments, new drums, and the beginning of Wind Instruments. This surge of complimentary mentality was what gave birth to The Orchestra.

After the Orchestra, the musical community all wanted to be the next big thing. There came a surge of new genres. Country, Classical, Blues, Soul. However, the largest genre of music did not come until the Magical Revolution. Once ponies thought of putting magic into instruments, we got several kinds of Rock music. Violin Rock, Country Rock, Hard Rock, Classic Rock, Progressive Rock, Alternative Rock, Synth Rock, and so on. However, Rock wasn't the only thing exploding onto the scene. There's the genres like Disco, Dubtrot, Break Beat, Pop, Gabber, and those sort.

Now, I know you must be wondering about Lyrical Music. Now, Lyrical music is a sort of music that can't be pinned to any time period. Ponieshave been composing lyrics to music for a long time. However, lyrics to music surged when string instruments were made, died down when Orchestras first came out, but then surged once more with the invention of the Chorus. The popularity of vocal music had waned sicne then, coming down to the, still immensely popular, level it is at today. So, now that you know how music began, perhaps you will appreciate it more.

Comments

[Vocal]

Urgh... not feeling too keen on my newest chapter...
It's just.... Styled differently than the last 2.
Not sure if it still fits in. Ah well. Here's hoping for the best.

[Handyhooves Ro]

This actually the better of the three chapters you`ve written. However like your other two, it could use alot more to it, this one being a much more fufilled one. The read remined me of a history video for music when I was either in 5 grade or watching Fantasia 2000, and is an interesting concept...