Greek Music Impact On History

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Music Impacting History
“Music can change the world because it can change people” –Paul David Hewson (“Bono” 2015). Music had the ability to affect one’s decisions and choices in ancient times as reflected by the quote above. As a result, music has had a significant impact on history because history is the story of people’s decisions. The Greek, Egyptian, and Chinese are three great cultures that contained music during ancient times. Each culture had their own unique form of music, and they all affected history in different ways.
The Greeks have had a great impact on the history of music. The early Greeks gave people a better understanding on how music works and how sounds and notes fit together. They found that it had mathematical significance. …show more content…

Tonoi was a system of modes that the early Greeks used. This is similar to the system of scales which is used today. Ancient Greeks also developed a system to notate dynamics (melodic contour) and rhythmic proportions using Greek letters. Around 15 different examples of these Greek notations are still used in music today (Estrella 2013). The three “favorite” instruments of the Greek were: the aulos, a double-reed instrument, the kithara and the lyre, which are both plucked string instruments (Hemingway 2001). Some other instruments used by the ancient Greeks were the keras, pan pipes, psaltery, and water organ (West 53, 102). Many ancient Greek instruments influenced the instruments that are used by many people today. One example would be the keras because it is extremely similar to a …show more content…

This science has given many people a better understanding in music today, and has helped others further their knowledge of acoustics. Ancient Chinese music was based on a five-tone scale, CDEGA being an example (Estrella 2013). That is the base for current scales used today which may be explained as CDEFGAB. These scales are used when playing an instrument. Some ancient Chinese instruments are: the pipa, dizi, erhu, xiaoluo and nao along with tuned chimes, drums, bells. Most of these insruments are all still used today, and not just in Chinese

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