A Fold-Out Graphic History
By
NICHOLAS O’NEILL & SUSAN HAYES Illustrated by RUBY TAYLOR
ANCIENT MUSIC
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6 2000 BCE • Drum Battle In what will become Greenland, the Inuit qilaat is used to make music, to tell stories, and to fight! If two people fall out, they play this drum while throwing insults at each other. It is like a 21st-century rap battle.
ANCIENT MUSIC
Even in prehistoric times, music is part of everyday life. People dance, sing, and play musical instruments to worship their gods, protect their livelihoods, entertain, and show love. Can you hear its distant voice? Can you find it in the temples, tombs, and caves on this map of the ancient world? Its melodies are locked in wall paintings, in fragments of instruments, on tablets of clay, and in the ghosts of the people who created its incredible sound.
6 7 41,000 BCE • Early Flute In a cave in what will become Germany, a flute player is making music. The flute is made from the bone of a griffin vulture or a woolly mammoth tusk.
5 1400 BCE • Greek Myth Music In Greek mythology, the gods give Orpheus the gift of music. He plays his lyre, or harp, so beautifully that he can charm the trees, the mountains, and the wild beasts with his songs. 7
3 4 1323 BCE • King Tut’s Trumpets of War Tutankhamun, the Egyptian boy King, is buried with his treasures, including two trumpets. They will be played on the radio 3,000 years later. Five months after that, World War II will break out. Legend has it these trumpets summon war.
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3 5000 BCE • The Power of Music Across the North American continent, instruments and songs are thought to have supernatural powers. Music is used to summon good weather, cure illnesses and win wars. Instruments are made from gourds, reeds, hooves, and bone.
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8 1 5000 BCE • Magic Turtle Shells Female dancers shake out a steady rhythm with turtle-shell rattles attached to their ankles. They dance in what will become the southeastern United States.
8 10,000 BCE • Music in Art On the walls of the Tassili-n-Ajjer caves in the Sahara desert, people paint hunters with bows and arrows, dancers with masks, and musicians playing instruments.
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2 2 1000 BCE • Call to the Gods Conch shells are blown to summon the gods. Their unnerving roar echoes around the sharply twisting corridors of Chavín de Huántar. This stone labyrinth in the Andes mountains of South America is used for important religious ceremonies.
9 2500 BCE • Music to Stay Safe The molimo trumpet’s haunting wail pierces the night’s darkness. It is played by the Mbuti people of Congo to “wake up” the forest and ward off famine and evil.
ANCIENT MUSIC
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Before 500 CE 21 300 CE • Jaw Harps In the Altai mountains in Russia, nomadic Huns people whittle jaw harps out of cow or horse bone. Performers place the top of the harp in their mouth and pluck it to create a sound.
14 100 CE • Oldest Piece of Music A man called Seikilos engraves musical symbols on his wife’s tombstone. Almost 2,000 years later, it will be discovered in Turkey and celebrated as the oldest surviving complete piece of music.
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20 500 BCE • Guitar-like Qin The two-stringed qin is Confucius’s favourite instrument. This Chinese philosopher plays it until he “can feel the spirit of the melody.”
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13 1400 BCE • Oldest Song The Hymn to Nikkal is created for the Hurrians’ goddess of orchards. It is 19 probably played on a lyre. The music is written on a stone tablet in the city of Ugarit, Syria, and will be the oldest surviving song in the world.
19 5000 BCE • Ceremonial Beat In China, alligator skins are stretched over wooden frames to create drums. Important ceremonies are accompanied by their solemn beat.
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17 2000 BCE • Stone Sounds In Vietnam, slabs of stone are lined up in a musical scale and struck with a beater, just like a xylophone. They are called lithophones.
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18 17,000 BCE • Long-distance Roar A spinning bullroarer fills the air with an eerie, vibrating sound. It is used all over the ancient world for communication. On a still night, it can be heard several miles away.
12 2200 BCE • Earliest Composer Enheduanna writes hymns to the gods on tablets of stone. She is the high priestess in the Mesopotamian city of Ur.
11 3000 BCE • Reed Flute The mystical hollow sound of a ney floats across the desert sands. This Persian instrument is made from a bamboo-like reed.
10 1400 BCE • Rumbling in the Mountains The Hebrew Bible describes a deep rumbling sound as Moses receives the Ten Commandments on Mount Sinai. The sound is from a trumpet called a shofar, which is made from a ram’s horn and used by shepherds.
Before 500 CE
15 30,000 BCE • Music in Central India Stone age peoples shelter in the Bhimbetka caves and paint their life stories on the walls. Among the pictures are figures dancing and playing musical instruments.
16 500 CE • Drone of the Didgeridoo The low-pitched rumble of the didgeridoo booms across the outback of Australia. It is played to mimic the sounds of nature, such as the laugh of a kookaburra bird, the wail of a dingo, and the creaking of an old tree.
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1639 • School of Koto Yatsuhashi receives an honorary title for talented blind musicians—Kengyō—and is employed at the Japanese court. He writes music and invents a tuning system for the koto, a thirteen-stringed instrument. Later, he sets up the Yatsuhashi school of koto.
1607 • Opera Claudio Monteverdi’s opera L’Orfeo is performed for the first time in Italy. It is a story in music. The Ancient Greek hero, Orpheus, tries to save his beloved, Eurydice. The music is a vital part of the dramatic story.
1614 • Francesca Caccini At the court of the powerful Medici family in Florence, Italy, Francesca Caccini is the highest-paid musician. She excels as a composer, performer, and teacher, and she writes comic ballets and operas. Her style combines emotion, drama, and playful wit.
1685 • Handel and Bach George Frideric Handel and Johann Sebastian Bach are born in the same year in Germany. They are to become the most important composers of Europe’s Baroque period. Handel’s operas and oratorios will astound audiences. Bach will transform the sound of church music. The two of them will never meet.
1644 • Barbara Strozzi Barbara Strozzi, a virtuoso poet, singer, and composer, publishes her first book of Madrigals. In Venice, she studies with one of the first composers of opera, Francesco Cavalli.
1600s • Mixed Cultures The Spanish control Peru’s cities, and Inca people have been forced to reject their own religion and convert to Christianity. But the Spanish haven’t destroyed their culture completely. Hanacpachap cussicuinin is written in Quechuan and Spanish. It a choral hymn describing both Christian and Inca traditions.
1700 • Maori Music In New Zealand, Maori Masters compose song poetry. Their chants are passed from generation to generation and used to display love and affection, to reply to lies, to curse, and to predict the future. This traditional Maori music is called Mōteatea.
1606 • Mi’kmaq Music The Grand Chief of the Mi’kmaq nation meets French explorer Marc Lescarbot in what will become Canada. The Chief sings three traditional songs. Lescarbot writes them down.
1650s • Popular Opera In Europe, opera is an extravagant mixture of theatre and music. Opera is full of dramatic contrasts. The music is loud then soft, fast then slow. On stage, there is a large chorus, then just a soloist. Public opera houses are built, and many opera singers become celebrities.
1600s • Professional Musicians West African villagers ask professional musicians and singers to perform music at ceremonies, such as a coronation, or when a case is put before a judge. These important musicians sit with the king or chief.
About 1600 • Follow the Basso Composers start to use basso continuo. It is a way of writing music that shows the keyboard player a bass line, the lower part of the piece, as well as the treble, the higher part.
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About 1700 • The Pianoforte Italy is the centre of musical innovation. Bartolomeo Cristofori invents gravicembalo col piano e forte, or “the harpsichord that plays soft and loud.” He replaces the plucking mechanism of the harpsichord with a hammer action that can strike the strings with a greater or lesser force. Eventually, his invention becomes known as the pianoforte, or piano.
1680s • Expression and Style Violinist and composer Arcangelo Corelli makes the concerto grosso popular. This is a composition for solo instruments (concertino) and an orchestra (ripieno). Corelli’s trills and other ways of playing allow performers to express themselves. 1650
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1805 • Hector Berlioz French Romantic composer Hector Berlioz conducts the first performance of his masterpiece Symphonie Fantastique. It is played by a huge orchestra and full of long melodies and clear harmonies. It tells Berlioz’ own story of how he is madly in love with the actress Harriet Smithson.
About 1800 • South Indian Music King Thanjavu hosts a contest for two musicians to play head to head. The great Kesavvaya sings a raga, a collection of melodies that conjure up strong images and moods. But he is beaten by Shyama Shastri, who performs his own unique compositions. Shastri is one of the “Three Jewels” of Carnatic, or South Indian, music. This trio of musician-composers helps change the traditional music of South India.
1762 • Child Prodigy A six-year-old Austrian boy mesmerises the Emperor and Empress of Vienna with his piano playing and original compositions. This child prodigy is Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Later, he will write operas, including The Magic Flute, symphonies, masses, oratorios, and concertos. Despite his extraordinary talent, Mozart will die penniless at just 35 years old.
1846 • Fanny Mendelssohn German pianist Fanny Mendelssohn publishes her first songs. Because she is female, Fanny is told that music will only be an “ornament” in her life. Her brother, Felix, becomes a professional musician. Many of Fanny’s almost 500 wonderful works are credited to him until years later.
1788 • Australian Bush Music The British send the first prison ship of convicts to Western Australia. The crew sings sea shanties and plays fiddles and harmonicas. The convicts sing Irish, Scottish and English folk songs. Each influences the other, and Australian bush music is born.
1792 • Palm Wine Music A new town called Freetown is founded on the coast of Sierra Leone. Freed African Americans live here. In bars, musicians mix African rhythms with Caribbean sounds and play guitar. This is the start of Palm Wine music, named after a favorite drink.
1837 • Clara Wieck Since the age of 11, Clara Wieck has toured Europe, thrilling audiences with her piano recitals. The mid 1800s is the age of the touring virtuoso pianist, and Clara is now the toast of Vienna in Austria. She even has a cake named after her, torte à la Wieck.
1789 • Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven writes Symphony No. 3 in honour of Napoleon, hero of the French Revolution. Later Beethoven, who believes that all people should be equal, is so angry when Napoleon declares himself Emperor that he scratches out his name and renames the work, the Heroic Symphony. 1730 • Ramkie The Khoikhoi people of southwestern Africa strum chords on a popular stringed instrument called a ramkie. The guitar-like body is made from sheepskin stretched over half a gourd. The strings are made from sheep gut.
1821 • Faster and Faster Sébastian Erard introduces the double-escapement action, which makes it possible to play notes on the piano much more quickly than before. Hammers now touch the strings for about one thousandth of a second. Composers and pianists experiment with this state-of-the-art mechanism.
1860 • Recorded Music Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville records ten seconds of a singer performing Au Clair De La Lune on his phonautograph. This is the first time any sound has ever been recorded.
1750s • Answer Me… On American plantations, enslaved people sing call-and-response songs as they work. When one person sings a phrase or question, another sings an answer. Later, jazz will also answer one musical phrase with another. 1730
1840 • Saxophone Adolphe Sax invents a new instrument with a brass body and woodwind reed. He calls it the saxophone. Berlioz, the composer, describes the sound as “beautiful.” He includes it in a chamber arrangement of the choral work Chant sacré.
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1952 • Silent Music John Cage’s 4'33” is performed for the first time. For four minutes and thirtythree seconds virtuoso pianist David Tudor sits at the piano in silence, then he walks off stage. Cage’s experimental piece asks the audience to consider what makes sound, silence, and music.
1956 • Johnny Cash I Walk the Line by Johnny Cash reaches the top of the U.S. country Juke Box charts and stays there for six weeks. Later, Cash will become a country music icon, instantly recognized for his deep baritone voice. Cash’s earthy musical style and lyrics often deal with sorrow, struggle, and hardship.
1953 • Dmitri Shostakovich A few months after the death of the Russian dictator Joseph Stalin, Russian composer Dmitri Shostakovich completes his 10th Symphony. A few years earlier, Stalin had banned Shostakovich’s music in Russia. The second movement of the new piece is said to conjure up the darkness of Stalin’s brutal rule.
1960 • Queen of Soul Aretha Franklin’s single Today I Sing the Blues reaches number ten on the Billboard Chart. The eighteenyear-old singer will go on to sell millions of records and become known as the Queen of Soul.
1957 • Musical Theatre Leonard Bernstein’s musical West Side Story opens on Broadway. It brings musical theatre right up to date with a retelling of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet set on the violent streets of contemporary New York.
1945 • After the Bomb The United States drops the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan to end WWII. Hundreds of thousands of people die. In shock, avant-garde artists reject tradition in favour of a new future. In Tokyo, Jikken Kōbō, or “the Experimental Workshop,” is set up to make innovative music and film.
1956 • Jazz Time American jazz star Louis Armstrong visits Ghana with his band, the All Stars. They play a free concert to 100,000 adoring fans. Later that night, Armstrong hears E. T. Mensah and the Tempos play. He is so impressed he joins the band on stage. Mensah’s music fuses calypso with traditional Ghanaian rhythms and melodies.
1955 • Rock and Roll American teenagers flock to see the new film Blackboard Jungle. As the film titles roll, teenagers dance in the aisles to Rock Around the Clock by the band Bill Haley & His Comets. It is the age of rock and roll, Elvis, Little Richard, and Chuck Berry. Teenagers love it. Parents hate it.
1964 • Minimalism Terry Riley composes his minimalist piece In C. Each performance is different. Musicians play the same musical phrases for up to several hours, deciding when to move to the next phrase based on the sound around them. This repetitive and hypnotic style will go on to become popular.
1946 • LP Records Columbia Records invents the long-playing record, or LP. Each side plays for around twentytwo minutes. Classical pieces now fit onto one record, rather than many. And for pop fans, ten or more songs fit onto just one disc.
1958 • Sound Effects Electronic music pioneer Delia Derbyshire experiments with the latest equipment to create sound effects and music for TV and radio. She uses an electronic device called an oscillator to make whistling noises, a white noise generator to create the sound of escaping steam, and a wobbulator to make a spooky sci-fi sound.
1954 • Recorded and Live French composer, Edgard Varèse, completes his work Déserts, for wind, percussion, and electronic tape. It is one of the earliest compositions to use recorded sound alongside live performance. 1945
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THE BEATLES It’s 1962 in Liverpool, UK. Teenagers queue around the block outside the Cavern Club, hoping to see their favourite rock and roll band, the Beatles. Inside, the atmosphere is electric. John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr play an outstanding set. Their sound is unique, and their energy is infectious. Soon, these ordinary young men from Liverpool will be famous all over the world.
Albums sold: 800 million Chart toppers: Most ever number
ones on the Billboard chart (20 singles and 19 albums)
Global reach: Eight number-one
hits in Zimbabwe, two in Ethiopia Cover bands: There are 3,000
versions of the song Yesterday
George Harrison
Ringo Starr
Paul McCartney
John Lennon
1963 • Beatlemania Gets its Name Wherever the Beatles go, teenage girls follow— screaming, crying, fainting, and chasing the band down the street. The press call it Beatlemania. John, Paul, George, and Ringo appear regularly on UK TV. Soon, they will be guests on the Ed Sullivan show in the U.S., and Beatlemania will spread there and on to the rest of the world.
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A Fold-Out Graphic History Authors: Nicholas O’Neill and Susan Hayes Illustrator: Ruby Taylor Ages: 10-14 years Price: U.S. $19.99 CAN $26.99 Format: Hardback Extent: 22 pages Trim size: 9.8 x 11.6 inches Pub date: 12th May 2020 ISBN: 978-1-9999679-4-9 BISAC codes: JNF036020 JUVENILE NONFICTION / Music / History JNF069000 JUVENILE NONFICTION / Diversity & Multicultural Selling points ›› Can be read as a book or folded out into an 2-sided, 8-foot timeline, allowing readers to both dive in to individual fascinating stories or zoom out for the big picture ›› Covers music from across a wide range of genres, time, and topics, from Confucius’s favorite instrument in ancient China to the creation of Myspace and YouTube ›› Includes glossary, index, source notes, and music history playlist Author information Composer Nicholas O’Neill has written, arranged, and performed in almost every style of music, from classical to metal, from plainchant to funk. He is the recipient of multiple composition awards, Composer in Residence to the UK Parliament Choir, keyboardist for rock band JEBO, and a board game reviewer for various magazines and websites. Susan Hayes is in awe of children’s limitless imagination and thirst for knowledge—she strives to enjoy the world through their fresh, curious eyes. Susan lives in the East Sussex countryside of the UK with her children, her partner Neil, and two gorgeous but slightly silly ducks, Dolly and Izzy. She has written dozens of children’s books. Illustrator information Ruby Taylor collects inspiration from everything around her and is especially drawn to old printed ephemera, vintage illustration, and hand painted signage. Ruby graduated from Bristol UWE in 2012 with a first class degree in Illustration. Ruby lives in Bristol.
ISBN 978-1-9999679-4-9
9 781999 967949
Description Humans have always made music. From prehistoric bone flutes through classical music and right up to K-pop and music composed by artificial intelligence. This richly illustrated foldout timeline by award-winning composer and musician Nicholas O’Neill and children’s author Susan Hayes has it all. Learn about how different genres started—including classical, folk, jazz, gospel, rock ‘n’ roll, country, punk, grunge, and pop. Discover the stories of music maestros including Beethoven, Wei Liangfu, Django Reinhardt, The Beatles, Joni Mitchell, David Bowie, Maria Callas, Nina Simone, Louis Armstrong, and Beyoncé. Explore all of the instruments of the modern orchestra and plenty of ancient instruments from all over the world. Colorful illustrations by Ruby Taylor bring the book to life and provide a glimpse into how different musical styles and instruments sound. Published in partnership with the Royal Albert Hall, one of the world’s premiere concert venues, this is a truly special book that will delight children and families alike!
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