PreHistoric/Ancient
Music
Prehistoric200 AD
Music Development
Theories
 Match
rhythmic sounds
with human movement –
chanting, clapping,
stomping, etc.
 Imitate Nature – birds,
ocean, rain, caves, etc.
Music Development
Theories
 Spontaneous
vocal
expression of emotion –
anger, fear, anguish, joy,
etc.
 communication – drums,
trumpets, horns, bones
Proof of Music
 Cave
drawings
 Instruments have been found
– whistles, drums, bones,
sticks
 Oral and written stories that
have been passed down
Why Music was
Created
Accompany rituals or ceremonies
– dances, births, deaths, hunting,
marriage, religion, etc.
 Tell a story
 Express emotion and communicate
 Magical powers – thought to affect
character, life and well-being

Greeks
Developed one of the first notation
systems
 Created first music festival in 586
BC
 Greek words – music, rhythm,
harmony, and cymbal
 Depicted instruments – lyre and
kithara (small harp)

Greeks
 Syrinx
(panpipes)
 Tympanon (timpani)
 Hydraulus (water organ)
Greeks
Pythagoras, a famous Greek
mathematician and scientist,
related the pitch of a note to the
length of the string.
 He also developed the idea of the
musical interval (the distance
between two pitches).

Ancient Times
 In
tombs in Persia, China,
Babylon, India and in the
pyramids of Egypt, musical
instruments were buried with
the dead.
 Some of these instruments can
still be played
Music in Ancient
Times
 Vocal
and instrumental music
became important ways in
which to honor the gods.
 Harps were made from bows by
adding strings of several
different lengths.
Music in Ancient
Times
 Pipes
were made from
hollow bones or bamboo.
Holes were made in pipes to
change the pitches.