Early Music
Live performance has existed since humans have existed on earth, whether they knew they were performing or not thousands of years ago. Communicating with each other in their own languages and noises also allowed them to create simple rhythms with their voices and using whatever natural materials they could find to bang together, thus creating sound. As well as this, they would communicate not just with humans, but imitate other noises they heard on earth, like other animals or nature.
As time went on and humans started to become smarter, about 40,000 years ago according to scientists, we started to progress further from imitating nature and hitting rocks with sticks, and instead, humans started to make their own very early and simple instruments for callings in their villages, religious reasons and hunting. These would consist of simple drums made of wood and animal skin, flutes made of bone, animal horns and whistles. Here is an example of an early flute made of bone:
Ancient Greek and Roman communities followed on from these musical creations during the 8th Century BC to 6th Century AD, and they started using instruments in more creative ways and more often. Rather than using them to survive, they created actual music and used the pieces they made for weddings, funerals and other important life events. The creation of theatre and live performing arts shows further progressed the need for music, and the instruments were used in religious events and ceremonies to celebrate holy events.
Middle Ages And Beyond
After around 600, Churches became one of the main venues to perform music as Christianity was such a prominent religion worldwide, especially in Western countries. Musicians who were playing there had access to huge pipe organs which was a huge revolution to musicians and music in general and paved the way to what we listen and hear regularly now. A lot of these pipe organs were installed in large Gothic Cathedrals and halls, many of which still stand and are still used to this day. The acoustics in these places would carry the sound from the organ around the huge venues, creating an unmatched sound and intensity to the music; something people had never heard of before.
During the Baroque period, with amazing composers such as Bach and Mozart, countries started putting even more funding and research into music, seeing it was of public interest and was evolving every year. Move venues popped up in different sizes, and music started to break away from its link with religion, as venues became less Church-like, but still grand. Many composers turned away from the big venues and preferred more intimate, smaller places to put their works on show. As well as this, people have started to realise they can dance to music, realising their natural sense of rhythm and joy that music brings to everyone.
Throughout the 1700s and the Industrial Revolution, music grew rapidly around the world. Operas became a huge form of entertainment for everyone as it was new, modern, and empowering. Because of the popularity of Operas and the huge stages these ensembles need, music venues and theatres got bigger and bigger to meet the demand. Places specifically for operas to take place were constructed, such as the Royal Opera House in London. Taking on from these large vocal groups, orchestras began to pop up too, using an array of instrumentation and timbre to produce exciting new soundscapes for listeners.
Music In Modern History
With the turn of the 18th century came musical advances left, right and centre. One of the biggest strides was invented by David Edward Hughes in 1870; the early microphone. This was a carbon microphone, which turned audio into electrical currents using a transducer, and without his invention, recorded music and amplification would not be possible to this day. This would mean that further down the line, vocalists could have performances where they use the microphone as a form of amplification once it could be connected to an amplifier. The invention was the first of its kind and today would be considered extremely flawed as it produced a lot of electrical noise and only had a very inadequate frequency response compared to modern microphones today.
Not long after the microphone, came the first gramophone by Emily Berliner, who also helped Hughes develop the first microphone. Electrical advances kept on being invented and tested. This was the first way to listen to recorded music, even if it was extremely quiet and of poor quality. Recordings would be made through a phonograph during a musical performance, even if that just consisted of a soloist singing into the speaker funnel, which recorded the sound onto a shellac record so they could be reproduced and replayed anytime the listener wanted on the gramophone. This finished product was available in 1896 and paved the way for speaker systems for live performances.
In the 1900s, after the invention of the PA system and ways to amplify sounds to a much greater extent, came the modern live performance that most people think of when someone says ‘concert’. New forms of music start to be discovered such as blues, jazz, rock, punk and synthpop which being even more people into the interest of music, therefore also bringing the need for more and bigger capacity venues to fit ‘fans’. Rock and Roll is widely considered the turning tide for modern music because of its fusion of different genres and its relevancy today.
After the popularity of concerts, the idea of hosting a festival became very interesting to music promoters and artists. Being able to spend the weekend performing on the same stage as other amazing artists and huge crowds was something that just had to happen. This would be impossible without all of the musical histories before this, such as early instruments, grand music venues, electrical advances, and new genres being invented. Fans could still hear music even when they were extremely far from the stage thanks to amps and PA systems that carried the bands sound through a field of thousands of people. Woodstock is one of the most famous and oldest festivals to date, with its 1969 festival being attended by over 400,000 people.
As electronic advances kept on coming and improving the music scene, another thing that really upped the ante was the idea of lighting and pyrotechnics that would make a show more visually exciting and engaging for the audience. However this came with a huge health and safety risk, so using these would be extremely dangerous especially during the early days. As it became more common to see huge lighting rigs, fire, screens on stage and more visually stimulating things on stage rather than just a band playing instruments, more people wanted to come and see concerts. This leads us to where we are today, with huge venues specifically for music, great instruments leading back to 1000s of years ago and ways to make live performances better by using amplification, lighting and special effects.