History, Music, Culture
The Evolution of Music Periods
Differentiating between musical periods Medieval to Postmodern
Music, like people, is not static and changes over time. It is important to know about past musical eras and their history because it reminds us that the current sound of popular music is not permanent. It has been and will continue to change as our culture and technology evolves. In western music, there have been six and/or seven main music periods. This piece will characterize them and highlight the role of everyday people.
We will start with the Medieval period and move all the way up to modern times. When we think about popular music in 2020 it is essential that we put it in the context of western popular music. Of course, with globalization and the internationalization of popular music, the paradigm is bound to shift. Maybe the history of eastern popular music will dictate popular music’s sound in the 2100s. If reggaeton, afrobeat’s, or Latin trap continues to grow maybe Latin America’s rich musical history will dominate the popular music space for the next musical period. In the last section of this piece, I will give my predictions. As you read and discover new things about previous music periods, I encourage you to make your own predictions about the future of popular music.
