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Music has been considered a form of self-expression for so long that it’s hard to imagine it being anything else.
It seems obvious now, but music wasn’t always a tool of artistic expression in the Western world. As with any idea that comes so naturally to us, we often take it for granted.
To appreciate the dynamic between music and self-expression, we’ll strip 5 layers of self-expression from music until we’re in a ‘dark’ place. Where the two are no more, at least not in the way we know them today.
Let’s begin at the top. We find ourselves on the surface of music, and we see its voice. Let’s strip.
5. A Voice
Today’s music has a voice that speaks for all the different cultures, lifestyles, and genres worldwide. It reflects every movement, revolution, and ideas of people throughout time. Imagine music devoid of its own voice? It would lack identity and thus feel inauthentic.
4. Personal Style
If you dig deeper, each piece of music has a unique sound from the artists who made it. This sound is the artist’s personal style, developed from their true feelings and expression, that differentiates them from everyone else. Personal style in music can be likened to personal style in fashion. If you remove it from the equation, everything is uniform.
3. You
Now we come to you, the listener. But in this case, music is a hobby for the privileged aristocrat. Unfortunately, as the common person, you’re not worth the rarified air. You’re not permitted to experience the “respected” music of the time live in person. Nor do you have the resources or knowledge to create your own.
2. Us
Let’s take it one step further and remove the humankind experience entirely from music. It’s no longer about the everyday experiences and emotions of our lives. Music begins to come at a cost you’re no longer able to afford. So all personal music you own is gone.
Better yet, let’s strip some elements away from music—no harmonies, no rhythm until we’re left with one single melody.
1. The Artist
Now we’re back to the artist and their ideas about music. Take them away—artists have no control over the music they create.
Where do we stand now? Self-expression is removed from music, and we find ourselves, quite literally, back in the dark ages.
Now, let’s take a journey through history and explore how these 5 elements influenced self-expression. This time, we’ll re-examine these concepts in reverse, starting from ‘1. The Artist’.
We begin in Europe during the dark ages, after the fall of the Roman Empire. Technology is destroyed, and invaders roam the land. There exist only two classes of people, the extreme poor (peasants and enslaved)—the majority of the population, and the super wealthy. No in between. The Roman Catholic Church has absolute rule, and it’s all that stands from complete barbarity.
The Church’s choice of music is Gregorian Chant (aka plainchant). It’s sacred, unadorned music consisting of just a single melody. Its sole purpose is to worship God. The church prohibits any personal sense of self or ego from music to avoid the debauchery responsible for the fall of the Roman Empire. This includes not having one person in charge of music: that kind of power can only lead to sinful pride.1a
Then one day, someone had a revolutionary idea….
1.
The
Artist
The Birth of the Composer
900-1,000: Development of Polyphony & Musical Notation
Why not add two or more melodies to plainchant and sing them simultaneously (polyphony). Minds are blown. Music becomes complex and difficult to teach orally. To remedy the complexity, we begin to write things down. Musical notation is invented to standardize compositions and share them more easily with others.
The Church requires someone to properly notate music. This person is also responsible for making decisions about melody and harmony and eventually creating new ones. Furthermore, they’re also assigned to teach these works to others.
It takes a single person to carefully “compose” all these musical elements together. And there we have it: the birth of the composer.1b, 2
The Church allows for the new position to be established, but to curb any ego-centric ideas, they discourage anyone from taking credit for their work. Recognition for a piece of work can feed someone’s ego and therefore be avoided.
But as the number of composers grows and new musical composition techniques are invented, a new idea emerges.
C. 1200: Leonin May be the First Known Post-Ancient Composer to Sign His Name to a Piece of Work.
To understand the magnitude of this event, ask yourself what happens when you add your name to something. It goes from being an anonymous object to a representation of your skill, your creativity, your expression, essentially you.
And so artists begin to level-up. They look for ways to innovate and influence the course of music. We are unique individuals, so achieving expressive originality is part of the trade. We see the early traces of a personal style in music.3, 1c
The birth of a composer and ownership of one’s work paves the way for the presence of the artist. But the self-expressive message in music is still only about God and limited to a few.
Each copy of sheet music is laboriously hand-written into large hymnal books; therefore, copies are rare. The only ones with access to these works are the church and the wealthy. Most of the population will never see or let alone hear one of Leonin’s works performed.
As we approach the 1350s, things being to change. Public safety is restored. In turn, cities, universities, and farming emerge and expand. This ushers an important development in society were people once considered peasants are able to accumulate some of their money. Still not enough to afford a hymnal book, until one day, an invention becomes a catalyst for all inclusion….
2.
Us
Mass Media
1450: The Invention of the Printing Press
The People
Knowledge is no longer restricted by the expensive and time-consuming process of copying texts by hand. Information spreads more quickly and at a fraction of the price. The printing press makes it possible to disseminate books and musical compositions to a larger subset of the population.
1450-1500:
In 50 years, 40,000 separate works were printed in Europe. That’s more titles than have been produced in all of Europe in the last 1,000 years.
Musical Mass Appeal
Artists have a new up and coming demographic to keep in mind when creating their works. They aren’t super poor or extremely wealthy, but instead in a new class right in the middle with a common sensibility. This also pressures artists to produce their very best now that their works are open to a much larger audience. The advent of mass reach brings forth our very first “celebrities.”
Joaquin Desprez
One of the most important composers of the mid-Renaissance. Because of the printing press, most of his music was published, making him the first composer to become genuinely famous in his lifetime.
Stylistic change
Artists can now study original works by their peers and innovate at an unimaginable rate. The printing press increases the speed of stylistic change like never before.4a
The Church’s authority begins to weaken due to several events. One of them was Martin Luther’s 95 Theses which prompted Lutherism. In this new form of Christianity, it was believed that all music was a gift of God, whether religious or non-religious. And because the printing press allowed new ideas to spread faster, the movement was catching steam.
There’s a new interest in self-exploration and expression, which is evident in the emerging forms of music.
1550-1600: Madrigals Are the Most Important Experimental Genre of Secular Music.
Musicians began to explore outside of the constraints of the Church and delve into human emotions as the ancient Greeks and Romans once did. Madrigals are performed in groups and cover topics of social life, lost love, and heartache.
There’s also a new challenge among composers to make the sounds of music reflect the emotions of the lyrics being sung. Composers believe there are specific formulas you can create with music to do this properly—word painting. Suppose a musician sings about a lost loved one. The music should enhance the emotional sadness in the lyrics with slower, longer notes set in a minor key. Composers wrote books on how to accomplish word painting, such as Harmonic Intuition by Gioseffo Zarlino, published in 1558. Music thus begins to reflect human emotions. The beginnings of what we consider today as soundtracks.4b, 5
Music is now expressing all human emotions, but we haven’t arrive, yet. Keep in mind there’s no invention to record music and listen to it whenever we’d like. The only way to enjoy music was to experience it live or play it yourself. You may have enough money to afford sheet music but not have enough for music lessons or to attend venues to hear them live.
But as the new class continues to grow in numbers and resources, so does there influence. They have a voice now and they’re calling for to the popular music of the time, Opera. One day in Venice, Italy, music changed forever….
3.
You
1637: The First Opera Opens to the Public.
Since its genesis in the 1600s, Opera has been an aristocratic hobby. But as more people gain access to wealth and education, and 600 years after the beginning of our timeline, you are finally in the picture. The public opening of Opera marks a pivotal moment in the history of self-expression, and the music itself experiences a tremendous shift.
Opera is a musical representation of the rise of the individual in Western culture. Unlike Madrigals, which are performed in groups, operas celebrate the single emotion felt by the single person to a degree that was entirely new in post-ancient Europe. And nothing in the next 400+ years will be more important and impactful in music than the invention of Opera.6
The enlightenment
1730-1780: Music for the People by the People ‘The Amateur’.
For the first time in Europe, the up and comers have solidified their place in society. People achieve wealth by accumulation and the new middle class is here to stay. There is a new pool of people with the time and resources to take up hobbies. Among the many people began to practice, music lessons once one of them. The broader reach of musical education leads to a crucial development: the rise of the amateur.
“Every artist was first an amateur.” —Ralph Waldo Emerson
So many professional musicians we know and love today started as amateurs who thought of music as a hobby. But their infinite passion fueled them to achieve more. Through the early stages of their careers, they embody the emotions and dreams of the common people. Their journey is relatable, yet their voices are unique.7
4.
Personal
Style
“Art Demands That We Never Stand Still”
Musicians dabbled with originality. But for the first time, we have express tickets to experience an artist’s true feelings. We’re not making stops to see how a character is portrayed in an opera. We’re not restrained to meet the conventional rules of Classical music.
In his 3rd Symphony, in 1805, Beethoven discovered an expressive temper that allowed him to tap into his deepest emotions, anxieties, and dreams. His 5th Symphony reflected the political upheaval and wrath of the French Revolution. It portrayed his childhood pain and his debilitating hearing loss later in life. It was explicit and ambiguous. It was artistic self-expression as never seen before. Art > rules > audience. ‘Here is my work. I hope you like it.’
It inspired musicians to go beyond their emotions and experiences by including parts of their culture. This spawned a new idea of self-expressive music—The Romantic Era.8
Music became more intimate and experimental. The artists of the Romantic Era incorporated music from their native lands into their works as political statements. Music starts to express beliefs, ideas and even begin movements.
The world was at the apex of new changes.
The discoveries and inventions of the time made us rethink everything we knew about life. Darwin made us explore purpose, Freud taught us to dig deeper, and Einstein made us question it all…9
5.
A
Voice
1870-1914: Inventions of the Second Industrial Revolution
During the Second Industrial Revolution, new inventions allowed others to express their own voices. With the opportunity to achieve global reach, the art of self-expression began to rise.
Ubiquitous Technology
With the invention of the phonograph came the freedom to listen to music recorded worldwide. People heard about the cultures and stories from other countries. They were exposed to other sentiments and zeitgeists through different music. And, as technology improved music accessibility, artists grew to engage with a more diverse audience. Musicians were tasked with appealing to a worldly and multi-dimensional listener, not just someone from their region.
Musical Momentum
Until now, the powers tried to control what the people had to say. But the technological advances of the SIR provided multiple ways of recording music. Therefore, more and more artists could express themselves and share their art with an audience. At this juncture in time, even methods of transportation improved drastically. Ideas and self-expression were (quite literally) on the move, and it was nearly impossible to slow the velocity.
From the infectious syncopated sounds of the Caribbean to the hardships of slavery in the Blues, people were producing music from all points of the globe. It was becoming a vehicle for telling the stories of the people. Music was an audible canvas for artists everywhere. And, once people everywhere began to hear the music, there was nothing left to do except raise the volume.10
References:
- a b c Greenberg, Robert. How to Listen to and Understand Great Music, 3rd Edition, Lecture 3 – The Middle Ages. The Teaching Company, 2006
- ^ Greenberg, Robert. Great Music of the 20th Century, Lecture 1 – 20th-Century Music: Be Afraid No Longer!. The Teaching Company, 2018
- ^ Fisk, Josiah, Nichols Jeff, Composers. On Music: Eight Centuries of Writings. Northeastern University Press, 1997
“Peroten 1160-1235.” hallofpeople.com, 2014 - a b Greenberg, Robert. How to Listen to and Understand Great Music, 3rd Edition, Lecture 4 – Introduction to the Renaissance. The Teaching Company, 2006
– Carlson, Bernard. Understanding the Inventions That Changed the World, Lecture 9 – Paper and Printing. The Teaching Company, 2013 - ^ Greenberg, Robert. How to Listen to and Understand Great Music, 3rd Edition, Lecture 6 – The Madrigal. The Teaching Company, 2006
- ^ Greenberg, Robert. How to Listen to and Understand Great Music, 3rd Edition, Lecture 12 – Baroque Opera, Part 2. The Teaching Company, 2006
- ^ Greenberg, Robert. How to Listen to and Understand Great Music, 3rd Edition, Lecture 17 – The Enlightenment and an Introduction to the Classical Era. The Teaching Company, 2006
- ^ Greenberg, Robert. How to Listen to and Understand Great Music, 3rd Edition, Lecture 31-32 – Beethoven’s Symphony no. 5 in C Minor, op. 67 Pt 1-2. The Teaching Company, 2006
– Greenberg, Robert. Great Masters: Beethoven—His Life and Music, Lectures 7-8 – The Heroic Ideal | Two Concerts, 1808 and 1824. The Teaching Company, 2001 - ^ Greenberg, Robert. How to Listen to and Understand Great Music, 3rd Edition, Lecture 33 – Introduction to Romanticism. The Teaching Company, 2006
– Greenberg, Robert. How to Listen to and Understand Great Music, 3rd Edition, Lecture 34 – Formal Challenges and Solutions in Early Romantic Music. The Teaching Company, 2006
– Greenberg, Robert. How to Listen to and Understand Great Music, 3rd Edition, Lecture 43 – Romantic-era Musical Nationalism. The Teaching Company, 2006 - ^ Greenberg, Robert. How to Listen to and Understand Great Music, 3rd Edition, Lecture 45 – An Introduction to Early 20th Century Modernism. The Teaching Company, 2006
