Millennium Icons

Millennium Icon: Music

Music's expressive power spans the emotional spectrum. It can create a soaring state of joy one moment and produce a melancholy mood the next.

Throughout the millennium, artists, inventors and artisans worked to expand music's reach. Once largely limited to religious venues and homes of the rich and powerful, music now comes in a wide range of styles that entertain and inspire millions of people around the world.

1050
Take Note
Italian monk Guido d'Arezzo devises a six-tone system based on a Latin hymn to St. John the Baptist. The notes are ut, re, mi, fa, sol, la. In later years, ut changes to doh and a seventh note, ti, is added. In the late 1200s, a diagram called the Guidonian hand is created to help memorize his tones.

Most music professionals at this time practice their craft within the secluded worlds of monasteries and royal courts.

Early 1100s
Road Companies
Kettledrums from the Middle East are brought to Europe by returning crusaders. The kettledrum had originated with Islamic cultures centuries earlier.

Throughout Europe, musicians known as troubadours travel from town to town and entertain villagers. They sing about actual events and serve as a type of roving medieval reporter.

1151
Divine Harmonies
German Abbess Hildegard von Bingen composes her "Ordo" chant, which combines rich Latin poetry with melodies. An early master of Western music, von Bingen composes an enormous body of liturgical chants and history's first musical drama, "The Ritual of the Virtues."

1300s-1400s
Musical Accompaniment
The Yoruba peoples in West Africa use a dundun or "talking drum" to recite poetry. Percussion instruments form a key link between music and oral traditions for many African tribes.

Buddhist hymns and popular songs accompany Noh stage dramas. Noh performances emphasize subtlety and restraint in telling historical or mythical stories. And, in the tradition of Japanese stage, the actors all wear masks.

1500
Keyboard Beginnings
The harpsichord, a precursor to the piano, first appears. When a player presses the keys, strings are plucked by points of leather or quill. This results in short, abrupt tones.

1558
New Music Order
Renaissance composer Gioseffo Zarlino organizes music into major and minor scales.

1598-1600
Curtain Call
Opera, a type of drama in which all or most characters sing and music plays a crucial role, is first heard in Italy. The musical form is more or less standardized by such composers as Giulio Caccini and Jacopo Peri.

Along with the development of opera comes the establishment of the symphony orchestra to accompany it. The orchestra continues to grow and evolve into the late 19th century, when it assumes more or less its present form.

1666
Priceless Violin
Italian instrument maker Antonio Stradivari designs his first violin. He uses a thick, yellow varnish to help the instrument produce rich, full tones.

1690
African Roots
African slaves in the Caribbean play music on their favorite instrument, the marimba. A keyboard instrument that resembles a xylophone, the marimba is supported by legs or hung by the waist and played with mallets. It is sometimes called a Congo or Angola, after the African areas where the design originated.

Improvements over time help increase the marimba's musical range and make it a popular folk instrument in Central America.

1709
Grand Design
Italian harpsichord maker Bartolomeo Cristofori makes a new type of keyboard instrument that uses a hammer mechanism to start strings vibrating. The instrument, called a piano, allows a musician to alter the loudness and tone of notes by the degree of finger force applied to the instrument's keys.

Pop Quiz!
Question: When did the term "grand piano" come into use?
Answer: 1777

British piano maker Robert Stodart patents a "grand piano" style in 1777.

The shape of the grand piano evolved naturally from the harpsichord. The largest grand piano, built in 1936, weighed more than a ton and was 11-feet-8-inches long.

By the end of the 18th century, significant changes had taken place in the piano's look. Wealthy people wanted to have a piano in their home. This led to the introduction of a rectangular piano. The new model could fit more easily in a room than a grand piano. The upright piano later replaced the flat, rectangular style.

Although more convenient and affordable, square and upright pianos never quite matched the acoustic range and elegance of the grand piano.

1721
Baroque Master
German composer Johann Sebastian Bach completes his celebrated Brandenburg Concertos. A giant of the Baroque period, Bach becomes the master of the counterpoint technique, in which two or more melodies play at one time.

1742
Hue and Cry
German composer George Frederic Handel's "Messiah" oratorio premieres in Dublin, Ireland. Its performance in a London theater the following year sparks protests from the religious establishment. They take a dim view toward the playing of music with a sacred subject in a public venue.

1787
Auld Acquaintance
Scottish poet Robert Burns writes "Auld Lang Syne." In 1929, Guy Lombardo and his band play "Auld Lang Syne" as a New Year's Eve song for the first time in New York. Soon after, the tune becomes a New Year standard.

1788
Music Genius
Austrian composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart creates his famous Symphony 41, also called the "Jupiter." Mozart exhibited a remarkable gift for music from a very early age. He will die penniless on the eve of his 36th birthday, leaving behind a musical library of more than 600 works.

Late 1700s
Down-Home Music
An early form of country music takes hold in America. The new music grew out of folk tunes brought to America by European immigrants. Over time, country integrates elements of gospel, blues and vaudeville music.

Meanwhile, tribes native to America continue their long tradition of using flutes and drums in religious, medical and and warrior rituals. Dance bands and jazz groups will later imitate the sound of Indian drums with an instrument called the tom-tom.

1813
Greater Pitch
Invention of the valve mechanism greatly expands the tonal range of brass instruments.

1820
Magic Wand
German Louis Spohr causes a stir in London when he becomes the first to use a baton to conduct an orchestra. Previously, conductors led musicians in concert from behind a harpsichord.

1824
Ode to Joy
Ludwig van Beethoven stages his crowning achievement, the Symphony No. 9. The German composer creates the celebrated symphony despite being unable to hear a single note. He had lost his hearing in the years leading up to the Ninth Symphony.

1838
Going Public
Boston public schools offer students the first public music lessons in the United States.

1856
Gifted Widow
German composer Robert Schumann dies after spending the last two years of his life in an insane asylum. His wife, virtuoso pianist Clara Schumann, keeps his memory and music alive with major European tours. She performs at each concert dressed in black.

One of the finest musicians of her time, Schumann is the first pianist to play entire concerts by memory. From 1872 to 1892, she serves as the head of the piano department at the Frankfurt Conservatory.

1867
First Class Violinist
Maud Powell is born in Peru, Ill. She will become the first American violin virtuoso to attain international recognition.

1877
Recorded Music
American Thomas Edison invents the phonograph. The hand-cranked device uses a metal drum wrapped with tinfoil to record and play back sounds. Ten years later, Emile Berliner, a German immigrant to the United States, devises the first phonograph that uses shellacked discs instead of cylinders. This leads to the development of the 78 rpm record.

Late 1800s
A Distinct Blend
A unique music called jazz develops in the United States. It draws on American folk songs, religious hymns, old slave tunes, African rhythms and classical European harmony.

1920
Latin Beat
Cuban dance music known as the rumba develops on the streets of Havana.

1922
Music Over America
The New York Philharmonic becomes the first orchestra to play concerts for radio. In 1930, the Columbia Broadcasting Service begins airing the performances coast to coast.

Pop Quiz!
Question: Which famous conductor assumed the baton for a special symphony orchestra created just for him by the National Broadcasting Co. in 1937?
Answer: Arturo Toscanini

Toscanini retired from conducting in 1936. NBC was able to coax him out of retirement with an enticing offer to lead a special NBC Symphony Orchestra. Toscanini directed the radio orchestra until 1954, when he retired again at 87.

1924
Rhapsodic Hue
American composer George Gershwin writes his "Rhapsody in Blue" symphony. Gershwin instills his famous classical work with a strong jazz spirit.

1925
Historic Hoedown
Eighty-year-old fiddler Uncle Jimmy Thompson takes a Nashville stage for the radio broadcast of the first "WSM Barn Dance." WSM station announcer George D. Hay later calls it the Grand Ole Opry.

1933
Sir Duke
American jazz musician and big band leader Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington composes his hit song "Sophisticated Lady." During his life, Ellington will give jazz more compositions, hit songs, stage works, film scores, recorded masterpieces and sacred music than anyone else.

1939
Monumental Moment
The Daughters of the American Revolution tell accomplished contralto Marian Anderson that she cannot sing at their Washington, D.C., concert hall, called Constitution Hall, because she is black.

Outraged by the rebuff, first lady Eleanor Roosevelt resigns from the DAR and helps arrange an Easter Sunday concert for Anderson at the Lincoln Memorial. The performance attracts 75,000 people -- the largest public gathering in the nation's capital to that point.

1945
Boppin' Hipsters
Jazz musicians John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie and Charlie Parker invent a new improvisational style of jazz called bebop.

1948
Easy Listening
Columbia Records introduces the 33 1/3 rpm vinyl record. Known as Long Playing (LP), the 33 rpm record allows listeners to enjoy longer pieces of music without having to turn over the disc. The shorter playing 45-rpm record format comes out the following year.

Pop Quiz!
Question: When was the first tape-recording machine developed?
Answer: 1898

Danish engineer Valdemar Poulsen invented the first machine for recording sound magnetically in 1898. Called the telegraphone, it used an electromagnet to record impulses on a steel wire. But the system was far from perfect. Reel-to-reel taping would not become practical until magnetic tape was invented about 40 years later.

Portable cassette tapes debuted in 1964. Continuous-play eight-track tapes hit the market the following year.

1950
Artificial Hum
Electronic synthesized sound develops in Cologne, Germany. American inventor Robert Moog expands the electronic music platform with the creation of a new and improved synthesizer in 1965.

1954
Man from Tupelo
A young Mississippi guitar player named Elvis Presley teams with two musicians in the studio to create a driving rhythmic sound steeped in country and blues music. The new sound helps usher in the age of rock 'n' roll.

1958
Old Blue Eyes
Crooner Frank Sinatra releases the world's first concept album, "Only the Lonely." Sinatra sings the LP's songs in the guise of a tortured, broken-down saloon singer.

1961
Caribbean Rhythms
A fresh, cutting-edge sound called ska develops in Jamaica. Ska has its roots in Afro-Latin rhythms, Jamaican folk music and the blues. A few years later, ska evolves into a music form known as reggae. Bob Marley emerges as the preeminent reggae artist in the world.

1964
Fab Four
The Beatles launch the British invasion, arriving in New York for their first U.S. tour and making a triumphant television appearance on "The Ed Sullivan Show."

Pop Quiz!
Question: Which song did the Beatles perform on the Ed Sullivan Show?
Answer: All of the above ("I Want to Hold Your Hand," "She Loves You," "Till There Was You")

The Beatles appeared on "The Ed Sullivan Show" on Feb. 9, 1964. Their playlist consisted of five songs: "She Loves You," "I Want to Hold Your Hand," "All My Loving," "Till There Was You" and "I Saw Her Standing There."

John, Paul, George and Ringo performed the numbers before an estimated 70 million viewers -- the largest TV audience up to that time.

1965
How Does It Feel?
American folk singer Bob Dylan releases his single "Like a Rolling Stone." It becomes his signature work and speaks to the experience of an entire disaffected generation.

1967
Rock 'n' Roll Rhythms
The Beatles release their landmark album "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band." The critically acclaimed LP helps elevate rock 'n' roll to serious music status.

Soul artist Aretha Franklin's hit song "Respect" becomes a manifesto for the feminist movement.

A New York group called the Velvet Underground releases its first album. With gritty real world song lyrics and a counterculture look, the Velvets would have a great influence on the punk rock movement in the 1970s.

Pop Quiz!
Question: What famous outdoor concert took place in upstate New York in 1969?
Answer: Woodstock

More than 30 rock acts performed at the huge outdoor concert in Woodstock, N.Y., in August 1969. Staged on grounds of a large farm, the three-day rock extravaganza drew 500,000 people and served as the crowning moment for the so-called Summer of Love. Among the acts to appear: Crosby, Stills and Nash; Janis Joplin; Joan Baez; Jimi Hendrix; and Grateful Dead.

1977
Disco Inferno
The "Saturday Night Fever" movie soundtrack fuels a blossoming disco music craze.

1979
That's a Rap
Inner-city urban-speak, known as rap, goes from the streets to the stereo with the release of the album "Rapper's Delight," by the Sugar Hill Gang.

In 1989, 2 Live Crew's album, "As Nasty as They Wanna Be," causes a firestorm of protest because of its explicit lyrics. The album becomes the first recording ever declared obscene by a U.S. court of law.

1981
Television Rocks
With a hip, flashy logo, a 24-hour cable channel called MTV debuts with music videos of contemporary rock 'n' roll acts.

1982
Can't Beat It
Michael Jackson's "Thriller" LP quickly becomes a major pop sensation. It sells more than 30 million copies worldwide and becomes the best-selling album in history.

1983
Harmonic Bits & Bytes
The compact disc takes music into the digital age. By the early 1990s, CDs largely replace records and start to outsell cassette tapes.

1990
Stop the Noise
Newly developed digital audio tape eliminates analog tape problems, such as hiss and distortion.

1998
Online Hit Picks
Audio Layer 3, commonly known as MP3, debuts and makes it possible for an end user to download music off the Internet for free.

The Future
Cross-Pollination
Music will continue to develop as it has for centuries and take on new characteristics in the 21st century. The integration of traditional and contemporary music forms -- techno with classical, jazz with new age, and so forth -- will lead to music hybrids that create new genres. Standards for orchestral musicians will rise in coming years as they are forced to become more familiar with types of music outside their immediate disciplines.

Dimming Superstars
Jet-setting stars may become less popular in the new millennium. A growing trend toward large localized musical communities will lead to increased contact and collaboration among artists.

Wired for Sound
Music fans will turn more and more to the World Wide Web when making their music purchases. Electronic CD sales are expected to grow significantly in the new millennium's first few years alone.

Piracy Fight
The emergence of MP3 has already proved popular among end users that want to get their music directly off Web. But often, downloaded music files come from music taken from store-bought CDs. This has led to a growing concern over copyright infringement. New technology to fight music piracy over the Web will involve embedded images on digital files that identifies music from a legitimate source.

Related Links

Industry Standard
http://rollingstone.tunes.com/sections/home/text/default.asp
Music news, CD reviews, video interviews and more, from RollingStone.com

Soothing Classics, Hot Jazz
http://www.gmn.com/home/welcome.asp?bhcd2=942367920
Contemporary jazz and classical music happenings, from Global Music Network

Caribbean Rhythm
http://www.reggaeweb.com/
Get the latest on reggae artists and concerts, from The Reggae Web

Classical History
http://www.classical.net/
Learn about classical composers and their work, from Classical Net

Legends of Rock
http://www.rockhall.com/
Meet the kings and queens of rock music, from Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

New Years Standard
http://www.chivalry.com/cantaria/lyrics/auldlang.html
Hear Auld Lang Syne in its traditional Scottish form, from Chivalry Music

Royal Blue
http://www.music.mpr.org/features/9809_gershwin/
Life and time of composer George Gershwin, from Minnesota Public Radio

Tickling the Ivories
http://www.pianonet.com/
Insights on the piano's history and more, from National Piano Foundation

New Wave
http://www.mp3.com/
See what MP3 technology entails and offers, from MP3.com

Sources
"James Galway's Music in Time," by William Mann; World Book; Encyclopaedia Britannica; National Piano Foundation; Chicago Tribune/KRT; The Miami Herald/KRT; The Orange County Register/KRT; The New York Times; The Arizona Republic; Arkansas Democrat-Gazette; Dayton Daily News; The Guardian (London); St. Louis Post-Dispatch; eMediaweekly; Associated Press; National Public Radio; Webster's New World College Dictionary

Credits
Producer: Chuck Myers/KRT
Designer: Adam Mark/KRT
Photography: Library of Congress; National Archives; Apple Corps Ltd. via KRT; Columbia Pictures via KRT; Rodger Mallison of Fort Worth Star-Telegram/KRT; McClure's (magazine cover); Internet Public Library

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