Music, as defined by the Merriam-Webster dictionary, is the science or art of ordering tones or sounds in succession, in combination, and in temporal relationships to produce a composition having unity and continuity. There are various theories about the time and place of music origin. Images from 6000 B.C.E., found in a cave in Turkey, include drummers and dancers. Music was mentioned in clay tablets which date from ancient Mesopotamia, where lyres, pipes, drums, bells and harps were used to make music.
The Hebrews also made a contribution to the cultivation of music, which reached its golden age during the reigns of Samuel, David, and Solomon, with the singing of psalms. Much of the Hebrew musical tradition passed into Christian music, where psalms and hymns were sung as part of the liturgy.
In the Middle Ages, few outside the church were able to read music. Little is known about the secular music of that period, as it was not written down, but passed on orally. The songs of the troubadours and trouveres in France, the Minnesinger in Germany, the Italian lauda and Spanish cantiga and dance music, all developed as part of secular medieval music. Most characteristic instruments for the medieval age were vielle, hurdy-gurdy, harp, flute, organs, trumpet, and the bagpipes.
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