How do we know what music sounded like in ancient cultures?
In: Culture
Music theory and history are some of my favorite subjects!
Music has evolved much like language over the years. Just like we have Shakespearean English and barely recognizable old English of Beowulf; written music has certain periods and things that make them distinct but similar. Just like a linguist can read a long dead language a musicologist maybe able to read a notated melody. Unfortunately, a lot of older styles of music notation are vague and/or improvisational and not as specific as it’s metaphorical counterpart. So we have educated guesses as to what ancient music sounds like, but we don’t really know. Some of the vagueness can be taken away by what the instrument sounds like. As another commented, the structure and composition of an instrument often informs use and function.
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