Sound is as old as mankind. It has not been proven scientifically as to when and how sounds became music and music became melody. However, it is certain that music has lived with us for hundreds of thousands of years, accompanying our lives, being part of our daily activities and celebrations. Perhaps music is the first manifestation of culture.
The earliest recorded melody in the world dates back 3,400 years. The melody, a fragment of an anthem recorded on a cuneiform clay tablet, was found in the city of Ugarit.
In Greek mythology, Apollo is the god of poetry, divination, music, dance, and art, and it is no coincidence that his depictions often feature a lute or lyre in the hand. Musical plays, which can even be considered precursors to opera, also emerged in ancient Greece.
Practitioners of sciences were also interested in music, even the philosopher Pythagoras of Samos, who is primarily known today for his theorem used in mathematics, but many are aware that his and his students’ advances in astronomy, mathematics, and even music theory are still influential today. He discovered the basic law of resonance, according to which the pitch of a sound is a function of the length of the vibrating string. He recognised that the intervals within chords can be expressed in terms of ratios of string lengths: a ratio of 2:1 corresponds to an octave, a ratio of 3:2 to a fifth, and a ratio of 4:3 to a fourth. This was the first time in the history of science that practical experience had been mathematised.
Music and melody have constantly evolved and changed from era to era; new and novel styles and sounds have been born one after the other, including classical, folk, pop, rock, jazz, or soul music.
It would be impossible to list all great composers from different centuries who are still popular today.
But one thing is constant. Music lives with us today; its evolution is unbroken; it points to the future. Music is able to do so because it is now taught and learned. Members of next generation, who guarantee that music survives, are educated in an institutional setting. It is this joint effort that the lecturers and art instructors at the Faculty of Music of the University of Debrecen take part in, who were also the ones to compile the collection which is now in the hands of the reader, with special regard to new music pedagogy subjects and novel methodology.
I hope you read the collection with as much interest and joy as I did.
László Csernoch
Vice Rector for Scientific Affairs
University of Debrecen