49 Interesting Facts About Music You Probably Didn’t Know

Read interesting facts about music, I learned halfway through my 100-day music blogging challenge.

Interesting facts about music

Here’s a list of interesting facts about music extracted from my existing blogs in the series 100-day music blogging challenge.

#1: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart composed over 600 pieces during his lifetime including his first opera written at the age of eleven. He wrote his first symphony music at the age of 8 while an Opera at the age of 11.

#2: Jingle Bells was the first song to be performed in outer space by Astronauts, Walter Schirra and Tom Stafford using harmonica and bell (the first musical instruments to be carried in space) on Gemini 6 in December 1965.

#3: The Nokia tune is probably the most popular ringtone inspired by a music composition called Gran Vals composed by a Spanish composer – Francisco Tarrega.

#4: Seikilos epitaph (The Song of Seikilos) is believed to be the oldest known music composition that survived in its entirety.

#5 How to learn music?

Knowledge of music is like that mighty ocean formed with small raindrops accumulated over a period of time through water flowing from mountains and rivers – finally ending journey into the sea.

 

#6: Telharmonium is the earliest known music synthesizer or “musical telegraph” that laid the foundation of modern-day synthesizers.

#7: All the musicians in an orchestra have to tune their musical instruments to Stuttgart pitch at 440 Hz, the frequency of the musical note A4 on a standard 88 key piano.

#8: The oldest known musical instrument is a set of bone flutes excavated from Geißenklösterle Cave in the Swabian Jura of southern Germany.

#9: Marine Scientist, Roger Payne once recorded an album titled “Songs of the Humpback Whale”. This album was popularized by National Geographic magazine by distributing it along with the magazine.

#10: Intel-powered smart music wristbands converted their hand gestures into music signals. These signals were processed in the software to produce desired sounds.

#11: World’s longest piece of music is LIVE and will end in the year 2640

#12: The longest marathon karaoke ever was attempted by Leonardo Polverelli in Italy on 23 Sep 2011. The performance lasted for 5 days and around 101 hours, 59 minutes, and 15 seconds.

#13: Theremin, the uncommon musical instrument, invented by Leon Theremin in 1928, can be controlled without any physical contact.

#14: The earliest musical notations are believed to be based on an ancient cuneiform script developed by Sumerians of Mesopotamia c. 3500-3000 BCE. This script was used to devise many other languages too.

#15: Around seven orchestra groups from London arranged an orchestra at the Royal Albert Hall on 24 May 1912 for courageous musicians on the Titanic, 40 days after the sheep sank.

#16: The melody of “Happy birthday to you” is known to be copied from the song “Good morning to All”, composed by Patty Smith Hill and Mildred Jane Hill in 1893.

#17: Masquerading as a simple musical instrument, the piano actually has more than 12,000 parts. Out of these more than 10,000 parts could move to generate sound.

#18: The world’s largest operational pipe organ can be heard at Boardwalk Hall, in Atlantic City, USA.

#19: Piano Vs Organ – Who Is The King Of Musical Instruments?

Infographic – King of Musical Instruments – Piano Vs Organ

#20: MIDI keyboards are capable of sending only the MIDI signals and they cannot produce sounds or music on their own.

#21: It’s been 34 years since the MIDI was invented by Dave Smith and Ikutaro Kakehashi (the founder of Roland) in 1983.

#22: MIDI controllers cannot produce or generate sounds on their own.

#23: ACPAD is considered the world’s first wireless MIDI controller for acoustic guitar.

#24: Hip hop music was invented by Clive Campbell (Stage name DJ Kool Herc) during a DJ performance event organized on 11th August 1973.

#25: Thomas Edison – a scientist in the field of the audio arena, invented the phonograph on 12th August 1877.

#26: Assuming that around 10% of the world’s population is left-handed, there is very little market for left-handed instruments.

#27: Phonoliszt Violina is a self-playing machine, built-in 1910 by Hupfeld Company, plays musical scores using three violins and a piano.

#28: The Cat Fugue is based on the motif discovered accidentally when a cat “Pulcinella”, waked across Domenico Scarlatti’s harpsichord keyboard.

#29: The Musical Joke also known as “Ein musikalischer Spaß” or Divertimento was composed by Mozart. The reason behind writing a ridiculously unbalanced piece is still not known.

#30: Benjamin Franklin invented the first mechanical model of the musical instrument in 1761. It is also believed that the Glass Armonica was the first musical instrument ever invented by the American nation.

#31: Overtone singing is a technique used by singers to produce sounds with multiple frequencies from the throat. However, the sounds heard are in perfect harmony due to the presence of overtones.

#32: The Carillon, a 500-year old mechanical music machine can play music on its own.

#33: A Stradivarius is a stringed musical instrument built by members of Antonio Stradivari’s family during the 17th century in Italy. Stradivarius violins are among the most expensive musical instruments in the world.

#34: A Sonnet is a poem consisting of fourteen lines usually in iambic pentameter (writing ten syllables per line including five iambs in a line)

Example: MY CHEST OF BOOKS DIVIDE AMONG MY FRIENDS

#35: The harpsichord has a history of at least 600 years (around the 14th century) while the Piano is a relatively newer instrument invented during the 19th century.

#36: Earworm is a catchy melody or a song that runs continually through someone’s mind.

#37: 24 August is celebrated as International Strange Music Day, dedicated to sharing and listening to music that you may not have heard or experienced earlier.

#38: The Sea Organ is an art installation near the sea in Croatia. It can play music using the sea waves that hit the large tubes arranged on a set of numerous marble steps.

#39: Marble Machine could play music using the programmable wheel and around 2000 marbles.

#40: Big Ben, the clock that may not chime until the year 2020, chimed for the first time on 11th July 1859.

#41: ‘Gothic’ Symphony No. 1 composed by Havergal Brian requires over 800 musicians including 82 string players for the concert performance.

#42: Joseph Haydn is considered the father of Symphonies, who wrote around 100 symphonies that shaped the structure of compositions.

#43: The Vexations piano piece is considered the longest “repetitive” piece of music written for piano by Erik Satie.

#44: Based on a study done jointly by Apple Music and Sonos, it was found that expression of love increased by around 14% for the respondents who listened to music together at home.

#45: Elise – the mystery woman in Beethoven’s life, is still an unsolved mystery.

#46: Harp metal is an experimental form of music aimed at playing metal songs on the ancient musical instrument – the Harp

#47: Scientific experiments say that, when exposed to music, the plant’s growth rate improved by 20% in height and 72% in biomass.

#48: Metallica became the first band ever to play on all seven continents in one year.

#49: Sega, A Japanese manufacturer is widely known for creating the world’s smallest grand piano. It is a fully playable instrument and not just a showpiece.

Thanks for reading interesting facts about music!

adz