The story of music, from bone flutes to today

Music is as old as people. These short stories follow how music changed over time, who the famous composers were, and how new inventions brought new sounds. You do not need to know any dates: just enjoy the story.

Reviewed 7 October 2026

Each story takes about ten minutes. Start with the timeline, then follow the eras in order, or jump to a composer you like.

1Music through time: a timelineA friendly timeline of music: the oldest flutes, the oldest written song, the big eras, the piano, recordings and today.

2Early music: chant, castles and printed pagesMedieval chant, travelling singers, one of the earliest famous woman composers and the Renaissance voices that wove together.

3Baroque: ornaments, opera and the harpsichordAbout 1600 to 1750: decorated melodies, a strong bass line, the first operas and composers such as Vivaldi, Bach and Handel.

4The Classical era: clear, balanced and elegantAbout 1750 to 1820: clear tunes, balance, the symphony and the piano. Meet Haydn, Mozart and the young Beethoven.

5Romantic music: big feelings and big orchestrasAbout 1820 to 1900: composers show strong feelings, tell stories and use bigger orchestras. Meet Chopin, Tchaikovsky and more.

6Music in the 20th century and todayFrom colourful new classical music to jazz, rock, hip-hop and electronic sounds: how recordings and electricity changed music.

7Johann Sebastian Bach: the master of woven melodiesA German organist who wove melodies together like threads, and wrote music that is still played all over the world.

8Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: the child who wrote musicA child prodigy from Salzburg who wrote symphonies, operas and concertos, and died young.

9Ludwig van Beethoven: music that is brave and strongA German composer in Vienna who kept writing great music even as he lost his hearing.

10Frédéric Chopin: poems for the pianoA Polish composer who lived in Paris and wrote piano music that sounds like poems and dances.

11Clara Schumann: a star pianist and composerA German pianist who became famous as a child, played concerts for over sixty years, and also composed.

12Concert halls: buildings made for listeningWhy a concert hall sounds the way it does, and a few famous halls in the world.

13Music around the world: a timeline of stylesScroll through the decades and see which styles and artists appeared at the same time in different parts of the world, plus a simple family tree of styles.

SOWLEA APP

Practise this in the Sowlea App

Hear the sounds of the past and present in the Sowlea App, from a sampled piano to drum grooves, and practise the songs you love.

Free on iPhone, iPad and Android. The metronome and tuner also work offline.

Piano sound: Salamander Grand Piano by Alexander Holm (CC BY 3.0).