Last month I talked about change, growth, and development.

In life, in audio – and music.

Think about the origin: making sounds.

First, purely for communication – making things clear to each other.

Then signals, later a kind of song, with rhythm and dance.

It is how people came to simple instruments – first drums, later a kind of flute.

And with the instruments, the music also started to develop by making things clear about each other, indicating danger – introducing heights to rhythm and sound, first without words, later telling stories.

Evolution is progress until it can go no further.

It could be for various reasons – no more new options and choices, or simply no interest in them.

When we talk about music, we see the same pattern. From rhythmic and natural sounds through narrative singing to instruments in an increasingly larger composition.

 

Choir, orchestra, pop bands, virtuoso, or sometimes incendiary.

Music can do a lot. Comfort, unite, touch, disturb, demand your attention, or sometimes as background music. In the car, at a festival in a concert hall – or make music yourself!

Composers work in many ways: first imitating, later with a pencil on music paper.

Pop and jazz often mean improvising, learning from each other, and, above all, playing together.

 

Music is constantly evolving.

After Renaissance, Baroque, and Classical, came the Romantic works – orchestra, opera, and ballet.

Spirituals, jazz, pop, and rock followed each other in the light music scene.

From a fortepiano to a beautiful, large concert grand piano.

From an acoustic guitar to an electric all-rounder.

I’m probably forgetting a lot of different styles and genres – what’s interesting is that after progress and evolution, there always comes a time of recession or stagnation.

In music, in other art forms – and often in our lives too, to a greater or lesser extent.

Then we look back to the past and draw on previously achieved highlights.

We play masterpieces of the past on our evaluated, modern instruments.

In light music melodies, rhythms from earlier times are often used as inspiration.

 

Such as neoclassicism in music or architecture, vintage style in clothing or furniture, and our love for analog reproduction in today’s digital streaming era.

After atonal music, minimalist painting, and fusion gastronomy, we arrive again on the other side of the circle: with modern means back to the well-known paths, with a fresh and cool twist.

 

Music is now composed using computer programs but performed by musicians with classical instruments.

Visual art draws on forms of the past, but even paintings are sometimes created digitally.

Light music has always been based on primordial rhythms, now with digital instrumentation.

Evolution continues to rely on the past, progressive and revolutionary at times.

But the connection remains – new developments could not arise without the old finds.

And you guessed it: all of the above also applies to audio.

From tape recorder, gramophone, LP and cassettes, later CD, MP3, and hi-res streaming – more practical, ever higher quality but with the same goal: to enjoy and let you enjoy music, from baroque to pop and postmodern.