Music technology
The earliest known applications of technology to music was prehistoric peoples' use of a tool to hand-drill holes in bones to make simple flutes.
In the Classical era, Beethoven added new instruments to the orchestra such as the piccolo, contrabassoon, trombones, and untuned percussion in his Ninth Symphony.
The invention of sound recording also gave rise to a new subgenre of classical music: the Musique concrete style of electronic composition.
The invention of multitrack recording enabled pop bands to overdub many layers of instrument tracks and vocals, creating new sounds that would not be possible in a live performance.
[8] In the early 21st century, interest in the music of the pharaonic period began to grow, inspired by the research of such foreign-born musicologists as Hans Hickmann.
By the early 21st century, Egyptian musicians and musicologists led by the musicology professor Khairy El-Malt at Helwan University in Cairo had begun to reconstruct musical instruments of ancient Egypt, a project that is ongoing.
Various types of stringed instruments and drums have been recovered from Harappa and Mohenjo Daro by excavations carried out by Sir Mortimer Wheeler.
[11]: 46 When the Jews were captive in Babylon they hung their harps up and refused to use them while in exile, earlier being part of the instruments used in the Temple (1 Kgs.
A similar instrument was the lute, which had a large pear-shaped body, long neck, and fretted fingerboard with head screws for tuning.
"[12] Whitcomb writes that the pair of silver trumpets were fashioned according to Mosaic law and were probably among the trophies that the Emperor Titus brought to Rome when he conquered Jerusalem.
"[11] In ancient Greece, instruments in all music can be divided into three categories,[15][incomplete short citation] based on how sound is produced: string, wind, and percussion.
The lyre, kithara, aulos, hydraulis (water organ) and trumpet all found their way into the music of ancient Rome.
[20] Roman-style instruments are found in parts of the Empire where they did not originate and indicate that music was among the aspects of Roman culture that spread throughout the provinces.
[44] According to Charles B. Fowler, the automata were a "robot band" which performed "more than fifty facial and body actions during each musical selection.
[46] During the medieval music era (476 to 1400) the plainchant tunes used for religious songs were primarily monophonic (a single line, unaccompanied melody).
The neumatic notational system, even in its fully developed state, did not clearly define any kind of rhythm for the singing of notes or playing of melodies.
The dulcimers, similar in structure to the psaltery and zither, were originally plucked, but became struck by hammers in the 14th century after the arrival of new technology that made metal strings possible.
The Baroque period is often thought of as organ building's "golden age," as virtually every important refinement to the instrument was brought to a peak.
Builders such as Arp Schnitger, Jasper Johannsen, Zacharias Hildebrandt and Gottfried Silbermann constructed instruments that displayed both exquisite craftsmanship and beautiful sound.
The piano was invented during the Baroque era by the expert harpsichord maker Bartolomeo Cristofori (1655–1731) of Padua, Italy, who was employed by Ferdinando de' Medici, Grand Prince of Tuscany.
John Broadwood joined with another Scot, Robert Stodart, and a Dutchman, Americus Backers, to design a piano in the harpsichord case—the origin of the "grand".
The euphonium is featured in a few late Romantic and 20th-century works, usually playing parts marked "tenor tuba", including Gustav Holst's The Planets, and Richard Strauss's Ein Heldenleben.
[51] Cornets appear in Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's ballet Swan Lake, Claude Debussy's La Mer, and several orchestral works by Hector Berlioz.
In 1821, Sébastien Érard invented the double escapement action, which incorporated a repetition lever (also called the balancier) that permitted repeating a note even if the key had not yet risen to its maximum vertical position.
Felt, which was first introduced by Jean-Henri Pape in 1826, was a more consistent material, permitting wider dynamic ranges as hammer weights and string tension increased.
Also called the "plate", the iron frame sits atop the soundboard, and serves as the primary bulwark against the force of string tension that can exceed 20 tons in a modern grand.
Using a multitrack system, a band and their music producer could overdub many layers of instrument tracks and vocals, creating new sounds that would not be possible in a live performance.
[56][incomplete short citation] In Beethoven's and Felix Mendelssohn's time, the orchestra was composed of a fairly standard core of instruments which was very rarely modified.
Pressing keys causes mechanical hammers to strike metal strings or tines, leading to vibrations which are converted into electrical signals by magnetic pickups, which are then connected to an instrument amplifier and loudspeaker to make a sound loud enough for the performer and audience to hear.
Until 1975, Hammond organs generated sound by creating an electric current from rotating a metal tonewheel near an electromagnetic pickup.
