What is National Hug a Musician Day?
National Hug a Musician Day comes around annually on November 13. A lot of work goes into being a musician, and not everyone‘s aware of it. If you know a musician who spends hours a day practicing and hours a night playing at bars, clubs, and concerts, envelop them in a big ol’ loving hug and let them know they’re appreciated.
History of National Hug a Musician Day
Musicians have been around for as long as there has been music to play. However, the origin of music itself is unknown, as it’s been around longer than the ability to record history. Prehistoric music includes all of the world’s music that has existed prior to any historical references. This includes traditional music apart of Native American and African cultures. However, it is more common to refer to prehistoric music as folk, indigenous, or traditional music.
Archaeologists continue to speculate over whether the “Divje Babe Flute” is indeed the oldest musical instrument. It’s dated to be approximately 43,500 years old and is made out of a cave bear femur. The quarry lies in whether or not this item was actually used as an instrument or just gnawed on by carnivores.
When people think of worldly musicians who have made a huge impact in the way music has formed, they’re likely to think of people like Mozart and Beethoven. Classical music was fashioned by musicians who lived during the rising of the middle class. Many of the middle-class in France lived under long-time absolute monarchies, so music was performed in environments that were more constrained than they were in eras like the Baroque and Renaissance. The popular instrumental music was dominated by several well-defined forms: the sonata, the symphony, and the concerto — though none of these were defined or taught as they are now in music theory.
The 20th century brought major musical changes. Musicians strove to represent the world the way they perceived it. Where past eras of music concentrated on spirituality, this new modern period emphasized the physicality and the concrete. The invention of audio recording caused a boom in all genres of music, especially pop, rock, folk, country, and all forms of classical.
