The earliest and largest assortment of prehistoric musical instruments was found in China and dates again to between 7000 and 6600 BC. The “Hurrian Hymn to Nikkal”, discovered on clay tablets that date back to roughly 1400 BC, is the oldest surviving notated work of music.
For example, it is a lot simpler for listeners to discern the pitch of a single note played on a piano than to attempt to discern the pitch of a crash cymbal that is struck. In the Western art music custom, improvisation was an important talent in the course of the Baroque period and during the Classical era. In the Baroque period, performers improvised ornaments, and basso continuo keyboard players improvised chord voicings based on figured bass notation. As well, the top soloists were expected to be able to improvise items such as preludes. In the Classical era, solo performers and singers improvised virtuoso … Read More